Bloodline
by ojuara
Summary: What happens 18 years after the Apocalypse. I think it gets better in later chapters, but you be the judge. :D
1. Chapter 1

_So, before you read this, I just wanted to point out a few things. Even though this is probably the third time I've rewritten this thing, this is still my first attempt at writing anything beyond school papers, so, take for what it's worth :D. I know that the idea of giving any of the brothers kids is probably the cheesiest thing you can think about, but I think this is actually a pretty acceptable story line and it's been stuck in my head in the "what if" section, so I had to write this down. I'm a chick, so I love... love, I guess :D And I've been babysitting, so I love the idea of them having kids. (This is the part where most of you will click on the rewind button :D). And, finally, I don't know if it's too noticeable, but English is not my first language, but, since I'm studying it, you can hit me as hard as you can. I'm going to post a better summary, since, there isn't that much space on the actual place._

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**Summary**: 18 years ago, everybody thought the last Winchesters were killed . But they didn't know that Dean left something behind. Mary Jefferson was raised by a hunter called Ronald Jefferson and thinks he's her father. But when he's killed, Mary gives up her dreams and tries to find the responsible. Along the way she finds the truth about herself and her family.

_Enjoy it! :D_

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10 years earlier

It wasn't like it was unexpected. There wasn't one moment in Mary's short life when Ronald hadn't feared something like that could happen. The only instructions or advices he had ever received concerning Mary were how he had to keep her safe, away from harm's way or anything supernatural. That was all that mattered. But now Mary was gone. It had been three days since the last time he saw her. He left her with his neighbours to go on a hunt. Such a stupid mistake. When he went to get her the next morning, there was nobody there. He searched everywhere, but all he found were the bodies of his friend's wife and son, he was Mary's age. His friend wasn't there and he knew why. Demons had found them and they took their prize. In the following days, he tried everything, he looked for demonic omens, but came out with nothing, he searched the area, he even took the risk of going to the police with a fake ID, but there was nothing. It was like the demons and Mary had just vanished from the face of the earth.

After three days of search, Ronald had only a couple of options left. The sanest, had to be asking for his friend Bobby's help. The last time he was with him had been 8 years earlier on the night he became Mary's guardian, as both Bobby and Dean Winchester had put it. After a lot of reluctance from Dean's part it was established that, from then on, there was no Mary Winchester. Even if Dean could escape all the demons that were after him, nobody outside that group could know she was his daughter, especially in the circumstances she had been born. If one side didn't get her, the other one would. Ronald remembered how hard it was for Dean to let go of Mary. That moment destroyed the legend that man was on his mind. There was nothing heroic about it. It was only a man being forced to give up the only meaningful thing in his life to keep it safe.

The only reason why Ronald had taken so long to finally ask Bobby for help was fear. He knew he had failed everyone, especially Dean, and he knew that, as soon as Bobby found out he had lost Mary, Dean would find out too and he wasn't ready to face him. How do you tell a father that the daughter he had given away to keep her out of danger had disappeared? That everything had been in vain? But Ronald was running out of options, and there was no time to play the blame game. Dean could do whatever he wanted after Mary was safe with them again.

It took a while for Ronald to get together before knocking on Bobby's door. He was going to be the first to lecture him on how reckless he had been and how lucky Mary was if she was still alive. But Bobby's reaction was different from what he was expecting. He was just worried, and starting an argument with Ronald wasn't certainly a priority.

"Hi, Bobby."

"It's been a while, Ronald."

"I know, I'm sorry. We just keep meeting at the worst possible times."

"Damn straight."

Bobby was strangely calm. Ronald was expecting more screaming, more blaming. It wasn't until Ronald was sitting and refusing anything to drink that the questionnaire started.

"So, do you wanna tell me what happened?"- Bob asked while drinking what surely wasn't his first bottle of whisky that night.

"Uh… I left Mary with my neighbours…"

"You left Mary alone with strangers?" – Bob's apparent calm was starting to fail him.

"No, they're not strangers. I've known Jack for years. His son was Mary's age, they play all the time. And it wasn't the first time I did it."

"Why was it different this time?"

Ronald hesitated before answering the last question. Dean and Bobby had trusted him with Mary because he promised he would never hunt again. Admitting he had gone on a hunt would be the end of his parenting days.

"I left her there overnight. She disappeared during the night. I never did that before."

"Ronald, while it's only you and me, I would advise you to tell the truth. If you want to see Mary again, I'm really going to need to know exactly why you left her with people that know nothing about demons during an entire day."

"You called Dean, didn't you?"

"Of course I called Dean. His daughter is missing. If there's any reason to call him, that would be the biggest one."

"So, he's coming, isn't he?"

"What do you think?"

"He's gonna kill me."

"Yeah, he probably will. We're missing the point here. You went on a hunt, didn't you?"

Ronald looked at Bobby and, then down. It was almost like admitting he was a murderer.

"Yes."

"Damn it, Ronald."

"Bobby, I…"

"Don't tell me you had to. You swore you would never go on a hunt again!"

"I know. I couldn't help it. Hunting is all I know, it's my life. I can't just quit it!"

"Are you even listening to yourself? You think it's hard to quit hunting? Dean had to give up his daughter! In only three months he lost all the family he had left. And you couldn't quit a job? We trusted you."

"I know! For 8 years I tried my best to ignore everything that remotely sounded like a case, and I even pretended nobody's life was at risk because of that. But I couldn't keep on letting people die. I screwed up and I'm sorry."

Bobby was about to talk, when someone knocked on the door. He looked at Ronald in the eyes, before answering.

"It's not me you should be apologizing to."

When Bobby opened the door, the only thing Dean could see was Ronald. He didn't hesitate before moving towards him and give him a punch that threw him to the floor. Bobby tried to stop him.

"Dean!"

"You son of a bitch! What did you do?"

Dean's reaction was exactly as Ronald had predicted, and he had all the right to be furious. He didn't try to fight back after the first punch. When he was getting up, Dean punched him to the floor again. That was it. When Ronald was ready to fight him, Bobby stood in the middle and tried to break them apart.

"Stop it! Both of you. Dean calm down!"

"How the hell do you want me to calm down, Bobby? I handed over my daughter to this bastard, because he promised he would stop hunting, he promised he would keep her safe. And now he practically handed over to the demons!"

"Say what you want, but I would never abandon my daughter out of fear!"

Everyone stood silent for a moment. Not even Ronald himself believed he had just said those words. He didn't mean them in any way, it wasn't like himself. Dean's anger just hit a new level. He freed himself from Bobby and walked towards Ronald with every intention of beating him to death. He grabbed him and was ready to throw another punch, but then he stopped himself.

"You know what? It's not worthy, you're not worthy. For your own sake, I hope you didn't mean any of that, because nothing hurts me more than having to let my daughter with an idiot like you, and you know why she can't be with me. But, mark my words, in the moment I'm certain she's safer with me than with you, I won't even think twice about taking getting her back. And prepare yourself, because that moment may be closer than you think."

Dean let him go. After a few more moments of silence, Bobby decided to get back to the main priority – getting Mary back.

"If you two are done, we better start to get some serious leads on where Mary might be. Ronald, were there any demonic signs before Mary disappeared?

"I didn't notice anything, but I checked all the signs in the last week and there were a few. Wherever she is, she's with demons."

"I thought one of the prerequisites of this guardian job was to look out for those things."

Ronald tried his best to ignore Dean's presence, but he couldn't help to fight back with some of the comments.

"Because you would do a better job…"

"Yeah, that's all part of being a good father."

"Guys, stop! We all want Mary back, let's focus on this. Ronald, so there wasn't anything out of the ordinary before she was gone. No signs, strangers moving in…"

"There was one thing…" – Ronald almost slapped himself, why hadn't he thought of that before? – "Last week, when Mary got back from school, she said she talked to a man and he said he knew me. It could have been a demon."

Dean stood in the corner, silent, it couldn't be true… Bobby seemed exited about this.

"Yeah, it could. Did she mention anything strange?"

"No, she only said that a nice man had talked to her… wait, he told her they would be together someday, when it was all over."

"We've got to find this guy, does the school have cameras?"

"Yes, it does. I'm friends with the principal, I can call him and we get the images right now."

"It's not worth it."

Bobby and Ronald looked at Dean. Ronald couldn't control his anger.

"What do you mean, it's not worth it? We could see where it went."

"I spoke to Mary last week. It was me."

Now it was Ronald's turn to raise his hand. He had spent the last three days blaming himself for losing Mary and turning everything upside down trying to find her. He let Dean catch him in a weak moment and punish him for something he hadn't even started. Bobby stopped him and tried to make some reason out of the situation.

"Why did you talk to her, Dean? Demons have been following your trail non-stop for the past 8 years and you led them to your daughter?"

"I had to, Bobby. On the first times, I would check on her at least every month, but I hadn't seen her in over a year and she was so grown. It was stupid, but I've realized that my daughter, the best thing that happened in my life and all I'm leaving behind in this world, is growing up and she doesn't know who I am. I just wanted to speak to her, let her know I exist. It only took two minutes. I never thought they would find out."

Bobby didn't say anything. He knew how torn Dean was ever since he lost Sam and Mary. He was the one who had that idea, and he couldn't say he didn't regret it. After all, the demons got what they wanted in the end. He couldn't help but feel that everything had been useless, and even worse, a big mistake. As for Ronald, part of him was glad he wasn't the one causing this, and he surely wasn't going to waste some good opportunities to throw that on Dean's face, specially after the newly improved face he gave him.

"Well, great job. Do you have any idea of what you've done? I've been blaming myself every waking hour. I only called Bobby now because I was afraid of how you were going to react, how you would feel about me because I had lost your daughter, because I didn't do enough. But all this time, it was all your fault. You started the whole thing."

"That's a good one, Ronald. In all this time have you stopped just for a second to think and realize that, for once, this isn't about you? All you can think about is how we're gonna look at you after this, how you are so perfect, such a good father that anything that happens to Mary can't possibly be your fault. Well, I let me tell you one thing, we are going to find Mary, she's going to be fine and live her life fully, and I'm going to be with her. So when you see her, you can say goodbye, because I'll make sure she stays the hell away from you."

Ronald froze. That was his biggest fear. The reason why he had avoided both of them during all that time. He was the one who was raising Mary. In her eyes, he was her father, and he loved her like a daughter, the only problem was that she wasn't. He lived terrified of the day Dean would regret everything and take her away and, as much as he hated it, that day had arrived. He moved away from Dean and started walking all over the room, until, he noticed something. For years, he had heard of a knife that could kill demons. He had done his fair share of research about it. And there it was, inside Dean's jacket pocket. He knew Bobby couldn't help him, he could try his best, but there were no more answers there. It was time for his very last option. It was something he never thought he would come to, but he had to give it a shot. And, with the knife, it could actually work, and even if it didn't, he didn't have many reasons to live beyond Mary. While Dean was looking away, he managed to get the knife. Since he was all set, all he could do was leave. Dean and Bobby didn't need to see how far he was falling.

"Bobby, thanks for everything, but I can't stand being here anymore. There's one too many people here."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to take a walk, I'll see if I can find anything at all. I'll comeback if I do. Bye, Bobby."

"Bye."

Dean didn't have a good feeling about it.

"Hey, Ronald. Try not to do anything incredibly stupid, ok?"

Ronald rolled his eyes before closing the door behind him. On his perspective, it was a mistake to go through all the trouble he was about to get into just to let Mary stay with Dean. He tried to get him out of his mind and focus on getting her. When he was far enough from Bobby's house, he picked the knife to take a good look at it. It was real, he could kill all the demons that got on his way. He had to think carefully about his plan, nothing could go wrong. Since the demons were hiding, he had to summon them, and the only way he knew how, was to go to a crossroad and try to make a deal. It was risky and stupid, but he couldn't think of another option. With the knife, he could make the demon give him Mary, before they tried to offer him anything. She was important to them, but they wouldn't want to be destroyed just because of her. That much he knew. As he buried the box in the middle of the crossroad, he tried to forget that before all of that happened, he was somewhat of a decent man. The demon didn't appear right at midnight. For a few moments, he was afraid nobody was going to show up, that it was an even worse plan than he had imagined. After screaming for a while for a demon, it showed up. It was possessing a woman in her thirties that looked too much like his dead wife. The thought that the demon knew something about him, made him nervous, when she started to walk towards him, he regretted for a second going forward with the plan, but he tried to stay as calm and cold as he could, even when he could feel her breathing right next to him.

"Look what we've got here today. Saint Ronald Jefferson himself. You know, of all the adorable desperate parents, you were the last one I was expecting to see."

"Do you know why I'm here?"

"Yes. I hear you're missing a little girl."

"Where is she?"

The demon laughed.

"What are you laughing about?"

"I'm sorry. I just think it's funny how you think I'm going to spill everything for you, just because you're acting all tough and heroic."

"So, you're not gonna talk?"

"Not unless you give me an offer I can't refuse."

That demon was more stubborn than Ronald had anticipated. He didn't want to negotiate with it, he just wanted his daughter back. Before it could go any further, he grabbed the demon and threatened her with the knife.

"Seriously, Ronald? You think you can kill me with a knife? This is just starting to get pathetic."

"I though one of your rules was not to underestimate your enemies. It's not just a knife."

"I can't believe it. You've got a hold of the demon killing knife? I'm impressed."

"Are you going to start talking now?"

"Oh, you really are adorable. If you want to kill me, go ahead, see what that does to little Mary."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Ronald. Did you really think you were going to get anything from me just because you brought a magic knife? Why don't you put that thing down, so we can negotiate? That's the whole point of summoning demons at crossroads, right?"

Ronald reluctantly let the demon go. If selling his sold was the only way to get Mary back, he was going to do it.

"That's better, so, what do you offer, Ronald?"

"What do you want?"

"Well, for starters, your soul. That's the basic payment."

"It's yours. Now let Mary go."

"Hold the horses, Ronald, I'm not done yet."

"I can't give you anything else."

"Yes you can, Ronald. I want to know where Dean Winchester is."

"I don't know."

"Really? Then where did you get the knife? Santa Claus gave you surprise?"

Ronald didn't know what to do now. As much as he hated Dean at that point, he couldn't do this to Mary. He couldn't be the one responsible for getting her father killed. If she ever found out, she would never forgive him.

"Why do you need to know, anyway? You've found him once, can't you do it again?"

"Yes, we've followed him this far, but now his angel pals have messed our tracks. Anyway, it shouldn't be too hard for you, right? If you don't tell me, you don't get Mary, you'll go away and Dean and his buddies will find her before you do, and you'll never see her again. If you tell me, you not only get to stay with her, we'll even take care of Dean for you. And on top of that, as a reward, I will give you 10 whole years for you to enjoy with Mary. Win, win."

He was about to do what even himself thought he would never do. But it was a good offer. If they got Dean out of the way, he would never have to live in fear of losing Mary, like he had done so far. He breathed deeply.

"Fine. You got it."

The two kissed and sealed the deal. Now he had to live with it, for the little that was left of his life. He told the demon where Dean and Bobby were. The demon also fulfilled her part, and told Ronald that Mary would be waiting for him in the car, she also assured him she wouldn't remember a thing.

When Ronald got to his car, Mary was sleeping in the back seat. He wanted to hug her bad, but he didn't want to wake her up. By the time that happened he wanted to be as far away from that place and their old house as possible. He didn't think about Dean or Bobby anymore. Now it was only the two of them. When the time came, he hoped Mary would understand why he did it.

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_So, tell me what you think. It's fun to write, but it's also fun to read your opinions. So don't be afraid to bring me as down as you possibly can!_


	2. Chapter 2

I would like to thank everyone for the reviews and story alerts. I'm sorry it took so long to update this thing (and with such a short chapter), but I'm kind of short in time right now. I promise I'll do my best to post a better one soon.

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_Now_

She was standing in the middle of a room. She didn't know why, but she couldn't move, it was like some invisible thing was keeping her in one place. Everything was too dark, she couldn't see much, but she knew there was somebody there, with her. It was like she was being guarded, like they were waiting for something, until it finally arrived. She didn't know for how long she had been there, but it seemed like a long time, and, for the first time, there was some light. She still had no clue where she was, she only knew she was scared, even more when she saw who was around her. There were three people, all had black eyes, and they all stepped aside to let another one in. He was different. She couldn't see his face, but somehow, he didn't scare her as much as the others. He approached her gently and knelled so he could face her. He approached his hand, and she backed off, he reassured her.

"It's ok, Mary. Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you."

She didn't know why, but she trusted that man. He passed his hand through her face, and she woke up. Mary threw her alarm clock against the wall, smashing it. When she opened her eyes, she had to look around for a moment. She had been having that dream almost everyday for the past 5 weeks, and she wasn't sure if she could take anymore of it. It didn't even make any sense. Then she realized she had bigger problems. It was school day and she was already supposed to be there.

After dressing the first thing that she could grab from the closet and setting up a new personal speed record, Mary ran downstairs, but she had to stop herself for a moment. Ronald was watching TV and he obviously thought he was alone.

"You're watching the Weather Channel?"

Ronald almost jumped from the scare. He wasn't expecting to see Mary there that late. He quickly changed the channel and and tried to disguise his nervousness.

"Why aren't you at school?"

"Why aren't you at work?"

"I took a day off."

"To uncover the mysteries of meteorology?"

"No… I mean… a friend of mine is on a hunt and he asked me to watch the weather for him."

Mary didn't look convinced.

"Yeah, whatever. I'm late, I gotta go."

"Mary, wait."

"What?"

"Don't you think you should take a knife or something just to be safe?"

"As tempting as it sounds… why would I do that?"

"Well, you know… there's so much evil out there, you can never be too careful."

"There are always evil things out there. Why would today be any different?"

"Just… take this, please."

Ronald handed Mary Ruby's knife. She stared at him confused.

"Dad, are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just… promise me you'll look out for yourself, ok?"

"I really have to go now."

"Yeah sure. I won't stall you anymore."

"Bye."

It took a while for Ronald to take his eyes of the door. Knowing that it was probably the last time he ever saw Mary scared him more than anything. He didn't know what was going to happen next. He couldn't help her anymore.

Then, he heard them.

It was over.

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Yeah, it's not anywhere close to good writing, it was done in a hurry, but I promise it will get better.

So if you want to affront me, hurt whatever sense of pride I have left, or just make a suggestion. Click on the green button.


	3. Chapter 3

When Mary got to school, everything was quiet for a change. Her guess was that everybody had been called to the auditorium to listen to some lecture. To confirm her suspicions, her classroom was empty. At this point, she sighed. She would rather have to solve a million maths problems than having to be in a public place with Mr. Garrison, the principal. Wilson High wasn't exactly a first class school. Terrible teaching and terrible conditions allied with a constant lack of money meant it was a regular on the last places of the State's ranking. However Mary had always been an exception. She was one of the best students and somehow Mr. Garrison had put all of his eggs on her basket. Every semester everybody would be gathered in what he proudly called an auditorium to be made aware of results and how they could improve. The principal had tried every method, including calling old college colleagues who had managed to grant places at Ivy League to even a lecture on the proven effects of "The Secret". But lately his preferred method seemed to be calling Mary on stage and making her explain how she managed to be called for an interview in Harvard. That wasn't only a great violation of her social life, it was also one of the Ronald code. He had told her a million times to just bend in, to be invisible. That was one of the sacrifices that came with hunting. Being the school's pet wasn't exactly the best way to be faithful to her father's wishes.

Mary decided to go sit at her desk. Anything was better than being thrown into that nightmare. As she was approaching it, somebody gabbed her leg, making her fall on the floor, and then the same hand pulled her to underneath the desk. Mary looked behind her. Her friend Rita and 5 other people were sitting there, as if they were hiding.

"Am I missing something?"

Everybody looked tense.

"What's going on?"

Everyone looked at each other. It was like they were afraid to talk about it and they kept silent until Rita decided to come forward.

"We don't really know. It was just…horrible."

"What happened?"

"We were having our History class when suddenly Brandon gets up and he just… broke the teacher's neck. Just like that. Then he gathered everybody and I don't know where he took them. We managed to hide."

"Wait… emo Brandon? He decided to put his crazy into action on his last week here?"

"It wasn't him."

Mary and Rita looked at the girl that had just talked. Jane was Brandon's best friend. The two of them were considered the local freaks and were always together.

"He would never do something like that. Besides, you're forgetting one thing…"

Rita knew what she was talking about.

"Jane, we were all freaking out, you were probably seeing things."

"No. It wasn't just me who saw it."

"What is she talking about?"

Jane turned to Mary.

"His eyes were different. They were strange."

"Strange how?"

"They were completely black."

Mary was a little shocked. From what she knew, he was possessed. But Ronald had assured her that demons were extinguished. As far as she knew, there hadn't been any reports on demons in over 18 years.

"Are you sure?"

Jane looked almost offended.

"Yeah, I forgot. I'm the freak. I'm just imagining things because I'm nuts."

"No. It's just… rare."

"Mary, what are you talking about?"

Mary noticed everybody was looking at her. She sighed, they would have to find out about her side activities sooner or later.

"Do you trust me?"

Rita was taken aback.

"Of course I do. Mary, what's happening?"

"Well, Jane, I hate to tell you. You're not crazy."

Mary noticed everybody in the group was staring at her, all of them were curious to see what was coming out of there.

"If he wasn't acting like himself, he was probably possessed."

"Possessed?" – Rita was incredulous.

"Yeah. It's definitely a demon. It just doesn't make any sense."

"Mary, are you ok?"

Rita didn't know what to do. Jane didn't seem to find that theory too unrealistic.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… the general theory was that they were extinguished. Nobody has seen one in over 18 years. Why would they pick this place to make a comeback?"

"Maybe they're warming up? There aren't many places as isolated as this."

"Maybe. But first things first. Have you called anyone?"

"We tried. All phones are dead."

"We have to get out of here, it's not safe."

Nobody seemed to be thrilled with that idea.

"And how are we going to get out of here without having one of those things coming after us?"

"We can't. They must have someone watching who gets out. We just need a safe place to hold on until they decide to leave."

"What's your idea of a safe place?"

"Somewhere with salt, guns and water."

Everybody looked at each other, trying to think of such place, although a lot of them were still skeptical to the idea. Then, suddenly Mary had an idea.

"The canteen."

"Are you insane? That's on the other side of the school. How are you going to blind side them?"

"That's not really an option. If they get on the way, we have to get rid of them."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"With this."

Mary showed them the knife Ronald had given her earlier.

"You're going to stab them?"

"Kill them."

"I thought they were already dead."

"That's the general idea… but no. So, who's with me?"

Everybody agreed with the plan. As crazy as it sounded, Mary seemed to be serious about what she was talking about, and there weren't many options.

The group followed Mary out of the room. The corridors were too silent and too empty. It was impossible not to get freaked out by that. Just as they were getting closer, someone jumped on Mary. It was a possessed student, Mary had seen him around the school, but he was possessed, there was no choice. She pulled out her knife and stabbed him. When the light extinguished, he felt limp on the floor. That was the last proof the skeptical of the group needed. As soon as they entered the canteen, Mary locked the door and asked everybody to look for salt. Martin found two big bags that were enough to cover the doors and windows. When that was done, the group hid behind the counter. Mary excavated the place. While everybody looked at her.

"Are you looking for something?" – Rita was decided to help. Anything to keep her mind occupied from what had just happened.

"We have the salt and the water, now we need the guns."

"What makes you think you're going to find them here?"

"Do you remember that time we got grounded and we had to clean this place?"

"Yeah…"

"There was a gun."

"Canteen ladies have guns?"

"I hope so." – Mary opened another cabinet. – "Bingo. Thank God for crazy canteen ladies."

"You can kill demons with real guns?"

"No, but you can stun them."

"So, what do we do now?"

Mary looked at the group. – "We'll just have to wait and see."

For about an hour, Mary walked across the small space behind the counter holding the gun, always ready for the moment something decided to attack them. The people she was protecting were too scared to say anything. Mary found it odd that they had spent so much time there with nothing happening. They hadn't heard a sound, which meant nobody had tried to enter and rescue them. After seeing there was no point in looking around, she decided to check on the people.

"How are you holding up?"

"Fine, you know, considering… This isn't really what's bothering the most."

"What is it, then?"

"Just… how do you know about all this?"

"It's kind of a family business…"

"Was this why you were gone every weekend? Why you acted so weird sometimes?"

"I guess."

"We managed to stay friends for so long. And I never even suspected this. I mean, who would?"

"I'm sorry."

Shortly after, there was a strong crack. Somebody had opened the door. Mary grabbed the gun and walked slowly towards it.

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Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

"I thought salt kept these things away."

Mary looked back. The fear was general, but this time Mary was at the centre of it. After all she was the one that had come in late and had a knife on her backpack that she had used to kill someone everyone knew.

"It does. It's probably not a demon. It may be someone trying to help us."

Nobody seemed very convinced.

"Look, I know how crazy this whole thing is, but you have to trust me. I wish I was wrong, but these things are real… Ok, you have to stay here, I'm going to see what is it."

Mary held on to her gun, she was as scared as everybody else. She tried to show some confidence, but all she knew about demons were theories she had read in books. For all she knew, they could be wrong. When she was close to the door she looked around but didn't see anything. She walked slowly towards the other side of the room and leaned against the wall, that's when she saw a shadow walking to that direction. She hid behind a column and waited until it got closer. When she heard the steps next to her, she grabbed the holy water and threw it at the man's face. He didn't even blink.

"Who are you?" – Mary made a point of pointing the gun at the stranger.

"I'm here to rescue you."

Mary lowered her gun and sighed with relief.

"Finally. We've been hiding here for over an hour."

"We?"

"Yeah, me and 6 other people managed to run and hide. Let me go get them."

The man grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"No, you're misunderstanding. I need you to come with me. Demons have taken over this town, you need to be somewhere safe."

"Wait… how do you know about the demons?"- Mary realized that wasn't a conventional rescue mission. - "You're not with the police, are you?"

"No, but you have to come."

"Look, I don't even know who you are. I'm not going to take off with some stranger."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't present myself. My name is Castiel."

"Nice to meet you Cas. Now, if you're not here to help, would you mind hiding or get the hell out of here before any more demons decide to show up?"

"The demons are already taken cared of."

Mary looked at him up and down and he didn't seem to be carrying any sort of weapon.

"Right… so you, alone, managed to get rid of every single demon that, by the way, made almost every single student of this school a hostage. And not only that, you did it with no weapons."

"Yes."

"Look, stay here, go away. I don't care I've got people to protect."

"You can see it for yourself if you like."

Mary felt tempted. There wasn't anything suspect about that man and she was sure nobody was willing to spend much more time there waiting for someone to find them.

"Fine. Just wait here."

Mary walked back to the place the group was hiding. Rita was the first to get up and go to her. She looked worried.

"Mary, are you ok?"

"I'm fine. But something came up."

"What?"

"The guy that came in says he got rid of all the demons."

"And you don't think he's lying?"

"I don't know, I'm going to see it for myself. Does anyone know how to use a gun?"

"I know the basics."

"Good. Then if you see anything move, use the water first and then shoot, ok? I'll be back in a second."

Rita nodded. Mary followed Castiel along the corridors. Everything was silent and messy.

"What the hell happened here?"

"Demons gathered as many people as they could in one place. As soon as they dropped dead the tendency was to run."

"How come we didn't hear anything?"

"I made sure you didn't."

"How?"

"I have my methods."

"Ok, that's it."

Mary stopped in the middle of the corridor, Castiel followed.

"Who are you?"

"I've told you."

"Yeah, Cas…whatever. I mean, what do you do? Are you a hunter?"

"No."

"Do you know anything about straight answers?"

"If you really want the truth… I'm an angel."

"Right. Look, whatever you or whoever did here, thanks. I've seen this place is clean."

Mary turned her back and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get my friends, go home and pretend this whole thing was just a really bad nightmare."

Castiel appeared right in front of Mary blocking her way.

"Holy crap!"

"Listen. I will get your friends safe and do whatever you want. But I was called to protect you, so I can't let you get out of here by yourself."

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Please. I'm not so much of a stranger as you think. You can trust me."

"If I agree to do this. Where are we going."

"I'll take you to a friend of your father. You'll be safe there for a while."

"You keep saying that. I'll be safe from what?"

"This wasn't a random attack. Somebody was controlling these demons. They had a mission. And we're thinking it involved you."

Mary didn't even know what he meant with that. So far all Castiel had done was help her and she had no reason not to trust him.

"Fine, I'll go. I just need to go home first."

"I wouldn't advise it."

"It's quick, ok? I'm not going to hop on your van without letting my father know about it."

"Ronald is dead, Mary."

"What?"

"He's been killed. I'm sorry."

"No. No, it can't be."

Mary started to run. She thought Ronald was acting strange that morning, but she refused to believe something like that could happen.

When she reached her house, Castiel was waiting at the door.

"I won't even ask you how you got here."

Castiel stood in front of the door, blocking it.

"Let me in."

"Mary, you don't have to see this."

Mary pushed him aside and opened the door. She heard the sound of TV, but the living room was empty.

"Dad!"

After turning it off, she went upstairs followed close by Castiel. Ronald's door was opened and she saw him lying on the bed. For a second she felt relieved. Everything seemed normal.

"Dad. I'm home."

There was no answer.

"Dad?"

When she approached the bed, she saw all the blood and then her father's body. She couldn't hold her tears. Ronald's body was ripped apart. Castiel watched from outside the bedroom. He didn't want to interfere.

Mary let her guard down for a moment. She couldn't understand what was happening around her, and she didn't notice there was someone else in the room. She snapped out of her shock, when the door suddenly closed, leaving Castiel outside. When she tried to walk towards it, some force stopped her and pinned her to the wall. As she looked to the other side of the room she saw a young woman with black eyes walking in her direction.

"We need to talk."


	5. Chapter 5

Up until that moment Mary was still hoping to find some non-supernatural explanation for what had happened earlier at her school. At least all insane humans had were guns, demons were on another level. As far as Ronald had told her they were extinct, she had only read about them and there was no way of telling if any of it was accurate. She remembered being terrified on the first times Ronald had taken her along on hunts, but she couldn't remember feeling anything like that. It seemed the more she tried to move, the more stuck she got. Things weren't going that great for the new found angel either. Judging from the strong knockings on the door, he was in almost as much trouble as she was.

"Let me tell you, you're a hard one to find. It took us 10 years and, turns out you're living in the most indiscreet place we could think of. I guess we'll have to go back to underestimate you."

By now, the demon was uncomfortably close. Mary closed her eyes for a second. Any kind of escape was good enough for her.

"It's ok, Mary. I really just want to talk. I wouldn't be stupid to the point of destroying a decade worth of work."

"Why not?"

"Because, there's more to you than meets the eye."

"Thanks."

"No, really. Don't you ever feel like there's something inside you just… ready to burst?"

"No. Not really."

Mary was starting to feel like the whole thing was a big joke. She had always pictured demons as scary creatures. They were always in her nightmares, but that one in particular looked like Mr. Garrisson after too many drinks.

"You're looking cheery."

"Of coarse I am. Can you imagine getting a payback after so many years of hard work? It's like getting a bike for Christmas. I am so getting promoted for this."

"I'm glad one of us is having a great day."

"Oh yeah, I forgot." – the demon pointed at Ronald's body – "You're a new orphan. Been there, done that. Trust me, it sucks at first but it gets better. In a year, if you take the right amount of anything you won't even remember he existed."

"Did you do this?"

"No. I'm afraid Ronald did everything by himself."

"What are you saying?"

"Come on, Mary. You still haven't figured it out? If there are demons in town and somebody's guts are on the floor, there's probably some sort of deal involved. It doesn't take a genius."

"You're not saying he… he would never do that."

"That's what we thought. But you're kind is so damn weak it doesn't take more than a little scare to squash you like an ant."

"And by little scare you mean…"

"Well… this wasn't the first time we found you. You were with us for something like 3 days 10 years ago, which I think was the least we could do considering the circumstances. But, somehow Ronald didn't really understand. We just wanted to make a few tests, we weren't going to kill you or harm you. Anyway, turns out it was a good thing. How else would I be able to track you down if it wasn't for this? Although we had to fire the dearest colleague. Ronald didn't need more than 5 years in this crap hole and it would have made my job a lot easier."

"So you couldn't care less about him. All you want is me, right?"

"Bingo."

"So if I agree with whatever you want to offer me, can you bring him back?"

The demon started to laugh. Mary was starting to find its easiness and good mood too creepy to stand.

"I'm sorry. Is this funny to you?"

"No, no. You're right, I'm sorry. It doesn't work that way honey. You can't just break a deal like that. He offered his soul, he paid it. End of story. Let him rot in hell. But it's funny how history just keeps repeating itself with your family."

"What do you mean?"

The demon was still trying to stop itself from laughing which was making Mary angrier than she wanted to show.

"I mean, first, you've already gotten yourself an angel buddy, which sucks by the way, and now you want to give your life up to bring daddy back to life. Can stupidity be that genetic?"

Mary was starting to get confused. Ronald had never really been open about a lot of things, but he didn't seem to be the type to tangle with angels and demons.

"My dad had nothing to do with any of this."

"You mean Ronald. You're right, he didn't. He was just a mediocre hunter caught in the middle of this whole angels vs. demons battle royale. Now, your actual family started this whole thing."

"My actual family?"

"Yes. You never noticed you look a little too much like the milkman? I'm sure you've asked yourself enough times why Ronald never mentioned your mom, why you've never even seen a picture… just how completely different you two are."

Mary stood silent. Somehow that thing was getting inside her mind and twisting all her thoughts. As much as she hated it, nothing of what the demon had told her sounded remotely like a lie and that scared her.

"Ronald was just a pun, Mary. In every sense. He's not what you think he is. But answer me this: why do you think he got to keep you, even though you weren't his? How did a nobody like Ronald got 10 years on Earth when we're short on personnel down there?"

Mary didn't know what to say. She thought of a million explanations, but none could sound good enough to refute all the demon had just said.

"You're quiet now, aren't you. Well… let me tell you why. It wasn't your father's idea to live with Ronald. He only agreed because it sounded like the best thing to do at the time because he had just come out of a war where he had practically destroyed my kind. And he thought, sooner or later we would come back to get a little pay back, and he wasn't wrong. We were wounded, but we weren't just going to admit defeat and leave you alone. Only, there was something off about the whole thing. Dean Winchester wouldn't give up his only child because of a few demons. So, we dug up. Turns out he was trying to keep you away from angels too. Hence the less than perfect hunter backup. Now, we still don't know the real reason why he did that, but the time where he regretted doing such a stupid thing came, and he wanted you back. Only Ronald didn't, so he gave your father away so he wouldn't take back what was his. I bet you didn't picture Ronnie as a traitor, did you?"

Mary was wrecked. That thing couldn't be talking about the same person. Ronald had always tried his best. He was never father of the year, but if what the demon was saying was true, it went beyond anything acceptable. Loyalty was something Ronald had always stood up to and taught Mary about. She didn't want to believe it.

"You're lying."

"I almost wish I was. If you thought your day couldn't get worse, now you know I have the last living, breathing Winchester in my hands."

"And I bet that's a great thing in your messed up world."

"It is actually. Do you know how many people I managed to sign up just by saying they could get a little revenge from the man who personally destroyed all their friends?"

"So that's what this is all about? You're killing all these people just for a little revenge?"

"No. I'm a professional. There are a lot of demons out there who would do much worse things if they overheard a rumor of Winchester blood still running, but I don't get my personal despise of the human race get in the way of this particular job. That's why I'm in charge."

"You couldn't have fooled me…"

The demon grinned before grabbing Mary's throat.

"You know, I've been unusually nice with you. It's one thing to bring an angel attached, I can get along with that. We had time to learn new tricks and I'm almost running out of energy here because of that thing, but it doesn't scare me. Another thing is to mock me like I'm nothing, like you have a chance against me. That makes me mad."

After many attempts, Castiel was starting to make a progress and the door was starting to open millimeters at a time. He could sense something was going really wrong.

Mary was almost out of breath, but that didn't seem to bother the demon. It only took its hands off her when it started to talk again."

"Now, let's get down to business, shall we? We want you to join us."

Mary was still starting to catch her breath, but she was lucid enough to know how much of a bad proposal that was.

"You've got to be joking."

"Not at all. We think you have potential. And we're going to tear this world apart. The angels have got nothing on us this time, so I would suggest you to join the winning side."

Mary grinned at the demon.

"You better kill me now, 'cause that's never gonna happen."

The demon was annoyed, but not as much as it would enjoy a new round of torture.

"You know, for a moment I considered, not bringing Ronald back, but I know the torture master down there, so I could talk to him, make sure he wasn't too hard on him. But he's going to suffer more than any of the stupid sinful souls… and it's your fault."

"Shut up."

"I'll make sure he knows while he's trying to find his limbs."

"I said, shut up!"

As soon as Mary yelled at the demon, she dropped from the wall and into the floor. The demon just stared at her, scared. It wasn't expecting that. A moment later, Castiel bursted in and walked towards it. It looked at Mary and a big cloud of black smoke came out of the young woman's body who then felt on the floor unconscious. Mary was still on the floor, she looked at Castiel.

"What the hell?"

"We have to go. Now."

* * *

Thanks a lot for the reviews. Keep them coming! :D


	6. Chapter 6

Mary spent a good part of the first minutes of the travel staring at Castiel. She had been confused enough by the fact that she was with an angel, but everything about him seemed alienated. She had never been keen on believing there was such a thing as angels, but she still had an idea of what they might look if they existed and Castiel just looked like a misplaced human, even if a pretty intimidating one. She was almost afraid to say anything wrong, although she figured nobody would be more qualified to clarify her doubts.

"So, you can drive."

Mary had been anxious to know how since after they left her house he had suddenly stopped and unlocked the car the two were in.

"Yes."

"Well, don't call me a specialist, I had you guys filed under bullcrap, but I thought you had your own means of transportation."

"We do, but I've been told not to use them."

"I see."

Castiel didn't take his eyes of the road.

"Where are we going?"

"A friend of your father's."

"You mean, Dean."

Castiel wasn't too surprised that Mary already knew that. He knew a demon wouldn't waste an opportunity to use something like that to play their victims.

"Yes."

Mary hesitated before moving on to what was really bothering her. Part of it was answered. She had just been plugged in the middle of a clichéd daytime storyline, but the other part was just painful. With time, she could perfectly wrap her head around the idea that she had been somewhat adopted, there was probably a good reason behind the whole thing, seeing Ronald as a cold traitor was something more difficult to bear.

"I'm not really an expert, but… demons lie, right?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It's just… that thing said I wasn't supposed to be with Ronald. Not now. That wasn't the plan. It said he gave Dean away. It was lying, right?"

Castiel didn't instantly answer like he had done earlier. That was all Mary needed. That was when all what had happened that day finally hit her. She put her hands on her face and broke down.

"I'm so sorry. I don't usually do this, I really don't. It's just that this whole thing is so messed up."

Castiel looked at her confused.

"I'm sorry."

"No. This isn't your fault, is it?"

Castiel and Mary didn't say anything else for the rest of the trip. As soon as Mary saw the house of her father's friend, she felt depressed. This guy was definitely a hunter. Ronald had presented her enough for her to recognize them from a distance. She followed Castiel to the front door.

Bobby had been waiting anxiously for Castiel and Mary to arrive. Ronald had gotten in touch with him about 2 months earlier and told him all about the deal he made, but he failed to mention where they were. It took him almost that time to find Mary, but not in time to get her out before she had to watch Ronald die. As soon as he heard them knocking, Bobby ran to the door. He froze when he saw Mary. He hadn't seen her since she was a baby and was astonished by how much she resembled Dean. However Castiel didn't seem to have much time to spare there.

"Bobby. I have to be somewhere. "

Bobby nodded and the angel disappeared.

"What the hell?"

"Don't worry. He does that all the time. Do you want to come in?"

It wasn't like she had other choice. The inside of the house looked like dozens of others she had seen during her hunting trips.

"You're a hunter, right?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well, you have books serving as table supports, jars and decoration in general, so, that would be my first guess."

"We can't hide what we are."

"I guess…"

"Please sit. Do you need anything?"

"Not really."

"I bet you're wondering who the hell am I."

"That was one of the things going through my mind."

"I'm Bobby. I was a good friend of Dean Winchester. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, a demon tells me he's to blame for my conception."

Bobby dropped the books he was putting away. He had spent the last few days trying to prepare a speech to reveal Mary that. He was sure she wasn't going to hear it from Ronald, but he was hoping it wouldn't come as a shock.

"Oh, you already know that?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Are you ok?"

"Uh, no. Pretty far from it, actually. This morning when I woke up I had a father, friends and a future and it didn't take more than a day to lose everything. I don't even have much of a life left, you know? It's just a really messed up lie. I've never even seen you in my life."

Bobby was silent for a moment. The meeting wasn't what he had anticipated, maybe he should have prepared the aftermath instead of the actual revelation.

"Look, I can't begin to understand what you're feeling like right now. I don't know what that demon told you, but I'm sure Ronald did the best he could. You can't judge him for one mistake."

"The problem is that he made about half a dozen giant mistakes. The man sold his soul, betrayed a friend and to top it all forgot to mention that that friend just so happened to be my father. And the worst is that he's dead. He can't even say why he did it. It's like it's all pointless now."

"Did the demon tell you all this?"

"To start with. He was even stupid enough to let everything get to them."

"Even if he had made a million mistakes, he still raised you. You were with him for 18 years, you can't just hate him like that."

"Did I get anything wrong so far?"

"Tell you what. Forget you ever had an encounter with a demon. What did you think about Ronald yesterday?"

Mary stood silent for a while.

"He wasn't father of the year. He started taking me to hunts when I was 8 and was a bit overprotecting, but he was good enough. We lived in Wilson for 10 years. We never moved. That's good, I guess. He gave me an education. I probably wouldn't have entered in Harvard if he had raised me the way his hunter pals raised their kids."

Bobby couldn't help feeling a little rage while he listened to Mary. He was angry that his plan, his idea, didn't work. It was all pointless. Ronald had promised he would never hunt again, and, not only didn't he live up to that, he had taken Mary along and had even introduced her to others, and now demons had found her again anyway. It all seemed a big waste of time.

"See? You need to focus on the good things he gave you. We all mess things up at some point."

Mary gave him a half smile.

"How well did you know Dean?"

Mary was still reluctant to the idea of calling him father.

"He was like a son to me."

"Did you know my mom?"

Bobby needed to think that one through. He knew, but there was no way Mary could know anything about her. Not yet anyway, and definitely not from him.

"No. Dean was kind of a bouncer. You know, different town, different girl. I don't think he even knew."

"That's nice to know. It's a new life, but I'm still motherless little Mary."

"Your dad was a great man, you know? He didn't want to give you away. That was my brilliant idea. If it wasn't for that, I'm not guaranteeing you your life would be any better now, but at least you could call it yours, and I'm sorry for that."

Mary didn't say anything. She could never blame that man for anything that had gone wrong.

"So, are you tired?"

"Very."

"Follow me."

Bobby showed Mary a room. It wasn't a suite, but she had been to worse motel rooms. Before she closed the door, Bobby handed her a box.

"Your dad's and grandfather's journals are in there. You'll probably want to take a look. I'm sure they'll tell you a lot more about them than I ever could. And it will help you with your hunting, too."

Mary was reluctant. She wasn't sure if she was ready to know that much about her new father.

"Thanks."

"Good night."

That night Bobby wasn't feeling the need for sleep. He went downstairs and stared at his phone for about an hour before deciding he should call. Nobody picked up.

_This is Dean Winchester. Leave a message._

"Dean, it's Bobby. I don't know if you heard, but Ronald died today. Mary is here with me. She knows. I'm not going to say she's thrilled with this whole thing, but I really think you should come by and see her. It would be good for both of you. So…think about it, ok? Bye."

* * *

Once again thanks for reading and for the reviews. I'll try to hurry this up, but time is something I don't really have right now, so it's hard, but I'll try!. I hope you enjoyed! :D


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as Bobby left, Mary laid on the bed. She didn't bother to turn on the light or even undress and it didn't seem like she was going to be getting any sleep that night. She just stared at the ceiling, going over everything that had happened that day. She looked at the box Bobby had given her and part of her felt tempted to start reading. Maybe those books had some of the answers she needed. But on the other hand she couldn't help but feel that doing that would be betraying Ronald in some way, besides they couldn't tell her what was really bothering her. Just why the hell she was there. She had ran off with a stranger and was staying at another stranger's house. And then it hit her, there were two bodies at her house and she was nowhere to be found. Her first thought was to call Bobby and tell him, but what could he do? He wasn't exactly young. She needed to get out of there. She got up and for a second thought about leaving the box behind, but she didn't know if she was going to comeback and her curiosity would eventually get a hold of her.

Climbing out of a second floor window without being seen wasn't exactly a mystery to Mary. She had managed to escape her room a few times since Ronald wasn't really keen on letting her leave the house to be in a place with more than 5 people at night. In her senior year, she had perfected her art and was now an expert.

Now that she had managed to get out of the property, there was the question of where she was going. Her immediate plans consisted on getting answers or at least something to burn. Demons seemed to be a good place to start at. As for the moment, all she could do was try to forget that day, and there was no better place to do it than a bar. She had seen one nearby and one of the few perks of the hunting business were the fake ID experts.

After her first drink, Mary finally decided to give the journals a try. She started with her grandfather's. The thing was the summary of every book she had ever read. After reading a few more pages, it was like all the noise faded. She didn't even notice there was a young, tall guy looking at her. It took him a few minutes before deciding to get closer.

"Hi."

Mary took her eyes off the journal and looked at him. He was younger than most of the people who were on that bar and definitely more attractive, but that didn't mean she was in the mood to deal with anyone at that moment.

"Hi."

"I'm so sorry to bother you, but I've been watching you since you came in, and I swear I've seen you somewhere."

"Can you sound anymore creepy?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm not looking for anything here. I just have this feeling that we've met before. You don't recognize me from some place?"

Mary took a look at him and got back to her reading.

"No, I don't think so."

"You probably just look a lot like someone I met. Sorry."

The man stood in the same place. Mary looked at him.

"Do you want something?"

"No. I just like this place more. It was getting chilly over there. I'm not bothering you, am I?"

"Not at all."

"Great."

He waited until he finished his drink to talk again.

"I'm James, by the way."

"Mary."

"Like the virgin?"

Mary rolled her eyes, even James realized how bad that was.

"I'm so sorry. I'm not drunk enough to say clever thing, you know?"

"It's ok."

As he was half way through another drink, James decided to get to the point.

"So, I noticed you are drinking alone and you didn't stop reading ever since you got here, which for someone like you isn't really normal."

"Ok. And by this, are you trying to imply something?"

"No. I just think that's odd, that's all. And you don't really look you're 21, has anyone ever told you that?"

"No. I'm 25."

James grinned and finished his drink.

"So, in which case are you working on?"

"Excuse me?"

"The poltergeist thing is a bust. Just a couple of nerds trying to scare the hell put of people."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"No?"

James pulled the journal from Mary.

"Give me that."

"Demons?"

"I swear I will bleed you out if you don't give me that right now."

"Have you seen the omens too?"

"What omens?"

James looked at the bartender and the two people close to them.

"Maybe we should talk about this in some place private."

James got up and left the bar. Mary didn't really know what to do. Maybe the day before she would think twice about trusting strangers, but so far nothing had happened, so she followed him. Outside he was leaning against his car.

"What do you know about the demons?"

"Not much. There were some omens in Louisiana. I was on my way, but they stopped."

"Great. Do you want to tell me something I don't already know?"

"You were there?"

"I live there."

"What are you doing in South Dakota?"

"Very long story. Do you know anything else?"

"Well, these omens are starting again."

"Where?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

"You're going there alone?"

"That's the plan."

"They'll slaughter you."

"You're a little pessimist, aren't you?"

James moved to the front of the car, Mary followed.

"You can't just leave me like this."

"And why is that?"

"You were the one that came to talk to me."

"Yeah, I didn't know you were a hunter."

"I'm not."

"Why would you care about joining me, then?"

"Because those things killed my father, ok?"

"So this is about revenge?"

"No. I just want answers."

"Answers? You want to find demons to quiz them?"

"Can I go with you? Yes or no?

James opened the door of the car.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I'll let you come with me if you tell me one thing."

"Sure."

"Where did you get that?"

Mary still had the journal in her hands, James seemed interested.

"Why would you care about this?"

"That's John Winchester journal. There are a lot of people who would do surprising things just to get a peak at it. And I'm betting that if you got your hands on that one, you must have some idea of where Dean Winchester's is."

"I already have it."

James couldn't disguise his contentment.

"Tell you what. You let me read those and I'll teach you demon hunting 101. I'll even offer you my services as a bonus. Deal?"

"Fine."

"Alright. Come on, it's a long drive."

Mary took a breath before joining James and hoped that wasn't the biggest mistake of her life.

* * *

Well this was faster than usual :D. I'm trying to hurry this because I've got a hellish month coming up and it's going to be kind of impossible to update this thing. Once again thanks for the kind reviews!


	8. Chapter 8

Mary had hoped it would stop. Maybe with everything that had happened that day she would be too tired to even think about anything before managing to get some sleep, but she was wrong. She was in the same place she had been everyday for the last weeks only now she was looking from the outside, she was seeing herself in the middle of those people. It was like she was gaining some control over that dream. She took a look around, but it was still hard to see anything. Then she realized something that had been escaping her. They were demons. She had run into them before somehow, but she couldn't remember it. She approached them, but they didn't seem to notice her. If that was the same dream she had been having, their leader was probably arriving, but something felt different about it. She didn't remember hearing anyone speaking with each other, and on a second glance, they weren't. The noise was coming from some other place. She tried to look for the source, but the noise just kept growing stronger until she opened her eyes.

She was surprised to see that there was daylight, she hadn't gotten any rest. How was it possible to dream for that long? The second thing she noticed was how loud the radio was and how horrible the music sounded.

"Can you please turn that thing off?"

"Hey. You're up."

"And about to throw myself out of this place if that horrid thing keeps playing."

"That's blasphemy. Bon Jovi is God. You're going to hell."

"Please tell me that sounded better in your head. "

"It's a masterpiece."

"It's a marketing strategy."

"Whatever. I'm not going to discuss this with you, heathen."

The two were quiet for a few moments until James saw a gas station.

"You look like you could use some coffee."

"You're a mind reader?"

James got off the road fast and suddenly hit the breaks. The noise made everybody stare at the car. Mary took a few deep breaths before reacting.

"Are you insane?"

"There won't be any more coffee for another 100 miles. You didn't want me to miss this, did you?"

James got out of the car with Mary staring at him before she followed him. She still had a few questions and was on the verge of regretting ever getting in the car. She was starting to doubt that he was in any rush to get to wherever they were going when he decided to order a full breakfast.

"You still didn't tell me where we're going."

"You didn't really ask."

Mary didn't bother to answer.

"Kansas."

"You think there are demons there?"

"I'm pretty sure there are."

"How do you know how to track demons, anyway?"

"There are plenty of techniques. It should be a part of your training, but I guess whoever did that had a really optimistic point view about those things."

"My dad trained me."

Ronald realized it was probably too soon to be criticizing his methods.

"Who was your dad? Mine was a hunter too. He knew quite a lot of people and I never heard of you."

"Ronald Jefferson. He wasn't exactly the type of guy who liked to mix up with hunters. "

"Jefferson? Yeah, I heard of him. I didn't know he was still hunting."

"How? I don't think it was a secret."

"I don't know. The word was that he quitted after what happened to his wife."

"What do you mean?"

"It was your mother, don't you know what happened to her?"

"He never talked about her."

"Apparently she died in a car crash. My father told me she was pregnant and the baby died too, but here you are. From what I heard it was like a wake up call to him because it didn't involved anything supernatural so he joined the normal side of things."

Mary couldn't believe that a complete stranger knew more about her story than she did. At least that explained why she had ended up with Ronald.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. It's just weird to be hearing this from you."

"I bet. I've got a messed up life too. I couldn't imagine hearing about from some stranger."

"I can tell. Is there any reason why you're working alone?"

"Yeah. I used to work with my dad, but he was killed about 6 months ago. Demons did it."

"Sorry."

"Look, to be honest, I think I gave you the wrong impression. You probably think that I'm a specialist in demons, but the truth is I started hunting them for the same reason you did. I've got about 6 months on you."

"So what's with the demon 101 crap?"

"Well, for starters, I like you and I think we've got far too much in common to just ignore…"

"And you want to read the journals."

"True, but I really think we could make a great team. And you can learn a lot about demons in 6 months."

"Have you actually killed any?"

"Come on, you can't just kill demons. There are only a couple of ways and they're both gone."

"Then I guess I'm in the lead."

"How?"

Mary got up and went to the car and James followed. She picked up her bag and made sure nobody was looking at them before showing James her knife.

"You have the demon killing knife?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"My father gave it to me."

"Are you some super hunter or just incredibly lucky?"

"How far are we from Kansas?"

James couldn't take his eyes from the knife.

"We still have about an hour to go."

"Shouldn't we be on our way?"

"Sure. Can I just touch it?"

"No."

"I'll do anything."

"Ok. I'll let you hold it if you burn that shirt."

James looked down at his Bon Jovi shirt.

"No deal."

"Too bad. Let's go."

"I hate you."

* * *

Thanks for reading and once again thanks for the reviews. I'm drawing in school work, so I don't really have much time for this, but I promise I will finish it before I kill myself.


	9. Chapter 9

Mary lifted her eyes from Dean's journal to take a look at James progresses. As much as she enjoyed watching him running around feeling frustrated, the truth of the matter was that they had been on that city for over 2 hours and there were still no signs of anything out of the ordinary happening there. She had accompanied James on his efforts for about an hour, but she figured it was useless and decided to return to the car and finally get to read the journals. It didn't take much longer for James to join her.

"Did you find anything?"

"Nothing, it's all so normal it sickens me. We're going to have to go deeper."

She didn't even want to know what he ment.

"Why are we here?"

"What do you mean?"

"In Lawrence. That's where the Winchesters were from, right?"

"Yes. What's your point?"

"You didn't want me to come along until you saw the journals and now this. Those omens you were talking about never really happened, did they?"

"Are you ok?"

"No, I'm not ok. There's nothing here. You probably just made this whole thing up."

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know. Maybe you're one of them, or you're just an average freak. I shouldn't even be here."

"Ok, calm down. If I was either, we've been through a lot of places that would fit a crime better than this. Let's just focus, ok? It's a big city. Just because some people had a normal day, doesn't mean nothing happened here. We just need to keep looking and use plan b."

Mary was almost afraid to ask.

"What's plan b?"

She didn't expect anything to sane coming up from James mind, but his ideas were eventually going to strip her down of whichever decency she might have left. His plan consisted of ringing as much doorbells as they could and check each house individually to find any sign of supernatural activity. To cover up for the EMF and to get people to actual let them in their homes, he had come up with the idea of telling people they were checking electric wires. As she had suspected, many people didn't really fall for that, but a surprisingly number of people actually did, which astonished her.

After a couple of hours of that, they were exactly in the same situation they had been before. There were no signs there were ever demons in that city.

"I swear, if we don't find anything here I'm quitting. I can't believe you convinced me to do this."

"You're the least patient person I've ever met, did you know that?"

"Oh no, I have plenty of patience I just hate to go after lost causes. Can't you just please admit you were wrong and move on?"

"Never."

Mary sighed and wondered why she decided to chose a guy as a hunting partner. As she prepared to ring yet another doorbell, an old woman who seemed to be having more than a little trouble moving, opened the door. James and Mary stared at each other before Mary took the lead.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. We're with the electrical company. Some people reported having a few problems…"

"What do you take me for?"

"Excuse me?"

"You think I was born yesterday?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Are you going to look at my cables with those things?"

Mary and James looked at their EMF's. They probably should have guessed somebody would actually know something about electricity. Mary had no good answers, so James decided to step in.

"It's a new technology."

"You keep your mouth shut boy, I ain't talking to you."

"Sorry ma'am."

James looked at Mary. It was more than clear that that woman wasn't going to cooperate.

"We're sorry we've wasted your time. Have a good day."

"I didn't tell you to go away, did I? Come in, we need to talk."

Now Mary was confused. She hesitated before making any more move. James was following her, but the woman stopped him.

"Did I say anything to you?"

"I guess not. I'll wait here."

The woman closed the door in his face. As soon as she did, she completely turned. She gave Mary a big smile and asked her to sit on her couch.

"I'm so sorry about that. I didn't trust that boy a bit."

"I got that impression the first time I saw him too."

"That wasn't very long ago, was it?"

"No. It was just 2 days ago, actually."

"So, what brings you back home, Mary?"

Mary was motionless for a moment. It was one thing to have good intuition; another was to guess your name out of the blue.

"How did you…"

"Oh, I'm sorry. You don't remember me. You were just a baby when your dad went away."

"I'm guessing we're not talking about Ronald."

"No, but I've heard about what happened. I'm sorry."

"Who are you?"

"Missouri. I'm an old friend of your family."

Mary already knew the name. She had done her best to catch up with the details of the Winchesters.

"I was just reading about you. You're on my d… Dean's journal."

She was still hesitant in using the word. It still felt a little like some sort of treason to Ronald. Missouri, on the other hand, seemed to be a little too comfortable with it.

"So we're introduced. Maybe we should talk about your situation."

"My situation?"

"You're still thinking about what happened with that demon at your house, aren't you?"

"Well, if there's someone out there that's willing to go through the trouble of killing an entire school just to get a private session with me, I'd say it's a legitimate reason to worry."

"That's not what I mean. You can't stop thinking about how you ditched it."

Mary knew that woman was psychic, but she was so good she was starting to get scary. Yes she had been thinking about it, but she had come up with some good theories to prove that she had nothing to do with it.

"I didn't ditch it, Castiel did. I mean, demons and angels are kind of a new thing for me, but I know angels are much more powerful than them, so he probably did something."

"That could have been right a few years ago, but demons didn't show their face for a long time. I'm sure they had some time to practice. And it seems that you were the only one that had some sort of effect on them ever since they started walking the Earth again."

"But… what does that mean? Is that why they want me to join them?"

"I don't know. Dean was never willing to give me many details on how he had managed to be responsible for another human being, but I think you may have a destiny of your own and it's not just because of your family."

"Is there anything good about that?"

"I hope so, but I think that when you finish reading those journals, you'll find out that nothing really good has happened to your family."

"That's reassuring…"

Mary was getting ready to get up, but Missouri was sure they weren't done.

"Don't you have anything else to ask me?"

She hesitated.

"Do you know why he left?"

"Your dad?"

Mary still cringed when she heard that word.

"Yes."

"It wasn't like he came to see me or anything when he did, but I think he was running. I sensed some evil that night, but when I got to your house you two were gone. Your dad only called me a few months later to tell me you weren't with him anymore. And that's the last I've heard from him."

"Right. Demons. Speaking of which, you don't happen to know if there are any here, do you?"

"Not that I'm aware."

"So James was wrong. Shocking. I probably should go now."

Mary started walking to the door, before opening Missouri stopped her.

"Be careful, alright? I know you probably couldn't be doing anything else than looking for these things, but as soon as you're done you go to college and get a good life for yourself. Your dad was a good man, but look what that got him."

"Ok."

Mary opened the door and Missouri looked at James again.

"And be careful with that boy. I couldn't get a read on him. It could be nothing, but I wouldn't trust him too much."

"I'll remember that. It was good seeing you."

"You too. And don't you forget to come back here. Your family has a tendency of forgetting about people."

"I'll try."

James gave the old lady an old smile and waved when Mary was getting to his side. Missouri didn't buy it. From the look on Mary's face, it was clear that their stay was over.

"Great job, James. There's nothing here."

"How do you know?"

"Trust me, you were wrong."

"Who was that woman?"

"Just someone that knows a little something about something and a hell of a lot more than you."

The two were silent for a moment. James couldn't say he wasn't surprised when he saw Mary getting in the car.

"Are you sure you want to come?"

"No, James, I'm not. But it's not like I have many more options, don't you think? If I go back home I'll feel like a failure and if I go back to South Dakota, Bobby won't ever let me out of sight for 5 minutes. So just make sure you know what you're doing from now on, ok?"

* * *

Kinda meh, but anyway... Thank you once again for reading and for the reviews and I'm sorry for the lack of posting, but I've been having a lot of work.


	10. Chapter 10

"Yeah, I'll tell her. Ok."

Mary had been gone for less than 10 minutes when she walked in on James talking on the phone. A few weeks ago she wouldn't have had any interest in knowing what he was saying, but she had started to be more suspicious of James ever since the encounter with Missouri.

"What's your name again? Lily? That's a lovely name…"

She closed the door pretty heavily when she heard the mention of a woman's name. She wasn't interested in being a witness to some poor girl's foolishness. James turned around to face Mary. For a moment she could swear he was holding her phone.

"Hi, Mary!" – he got back to whoever he was speaking to – "Yes, she's here. Well, it was nice to hear your voice. See you."

James handed Mary the phone and, to her horror, it really was hers. She had to stop leaving her things alone in the same space as James. He, however, didn't seem to see anything wrong in answering private phone calls.

"Do I want to know why you're using my phone?"

"I didn't answer it the first 3 times it rang. It could be something serious."

"I think we need to start talking about borders."

"Yeah, maybe. Are you available for a Lily?"

"God, no."

No, she was probably going to give away all she had. Lily had been calling since the day before and Mary had good reasons not to pick up. As much as they could try, there was no way the two of them were ever going to get along. The last time they spent some time together was during the attack on their school and, even though Mary was trying her best to save everybody, Lily managed to convince half the group she was insane. But, if something bad was happening to her, there was really no way to ignore it. She took a deep breath before starting talking to her.

"Hi, Lily."

"Mary, it's so good to hear from you. Nobody has heard from you in weeks in Wilson in a while, we have no idea what happened to you. Are you ok?"

"Peachy. Why are you calling me?"

"I think I saw a demon."

"Ok, and what makes you think that?"

"A woman didn't take her eyes of me. At first I thought she knew me or something, but I've never seen her before and I could swear she had black eyes. I heard you saying that was one way to spot them."

"Look, if I'm going to travel all the way to Wilson, I'm going to need a lot more than that."

"Well, there is something…"

There was some hesitation. For the first time in the unfortunate time they had spent together, it seemed Lily was afraid to talk.

"What happened?"

" Rita is dead, so is Michael and Mark and that weird girl…"

"Jane?"

"Yeah. 12 people from our year have died."

Now it was Mary the speechless one. She didn't understand what the end game was. If demons wanted her so badly, why didn't they just come out and get her. Why did they have to get to everyone she knew?

"Mary, I don't want to be a drag, but I'm scared. I'm afraid they'll come for me next. So if you could just come here, or send someone…"

Part of her knew she was going to regret agreeing to something Lily was proposing, but she seemed to be speaking the truth.

"No, we're going there, don't worry."

"Thank you."

Lily couldn't wait to get Mary off the phone. She was really proud of what had just happened. She wished she had found out about demons sooner. If all it took to make all her dreams come true was to hand Mary to some creatures, she would have embraced the whole Satanist thing sooner. Now all she had to do was to wait.

----------

Bobby couldn't say waking up to see Mary wasn't in her room was the biggest shock of his life. He had to admit that bringing a teenager who had just found out she was the center of the most screwed up adoption in History to a stranger's house ,who claimed to be her real father's friend and expect her to accept it with a smile on her face was just wishful thinking. She had every right to be upset and most people in her position would have probably done the same. The thing was Mary wasn't most people. Ever since she had been born that she had both demons and angels competing to see who would be the first to get her and being alone in the world would only contribute to make her an easy target. In the 3 days that followed her disappearance, he had done nothing but to call people. He had already talked to pretty much everyone he had ever met and nobody seemed to know anything about her, which wasn't bad in itself. It meant she wasn't getting into trouble and none had found her neither. The calls, however, had to be as discrete as possible. Hunters weren't the kind of people that would settle with half answers and he couldn't let them get any suspicion out of the reason why he was so interested in knowing where Ronald's daughter was. As far as they knew, there were no Winchesters left after the Apocalypse and it was better to keep it that way.

He had just hung up on another of his fellow hunters who had asked too many questions when somebody knocked on his door. He had to be cautious about the people he allowed in. Ever since demons had returned one could never be too safe. Outside there was Bobby's biggest surprise in years. Not only had Dean received his message, he had actually decided to show up. The two hadn't seen each other in years. Ever since Dean had decided to strike another deal, this time with angels. 10 years ago if it hadn't been for them, demons would have most certainly captured him and Mary. He had promised them he would do whatever they wanted as long as Mary was safe.

"Hi, Bobby."

He took a good look at Dean for a while. The years seemed to be finally taking an effect on him. He looked tired and defeated.

"You're late."

Dean couldn't say he was surprised with the first thing Bobby told him in years. He wasn't exactly expecting a warm reception, but as he came in he couldn't help but wonder what he meant by that.

"Why am I late?"

"Mary's not here."

That he wasn't expecting. The casual way in which Bobby said that made him suspect she wasn't there with his authorization or he just wasn't aware of what had cost him to be able to come to his house.

"You're joking, right?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"How did that happen?"

"She reacted the way a lot of people would if they found out their lives were based on lies. She ran away."

"How can you be so sure?"

"For starters, she's got your temper and I've been calling everyone I know. Nobody seems to have heard anything from her so that's the best we can hope for. Last time they went after you two and I'm guessing they didn't give you any trouble to get here."

"That doesn't mean they won't do it soon. I have to call Cas, tell him to keep an eye out."

Bobby let Dean finish his call to confront him.

"How did you manage to get out of that deal of yours?"

"I didn't."

"So you ran."

"Basically."

"And you're not scared angels will come after you and Mary."

"I wouldn't say I'm scared, but I'm pretty sure they're coming."

"And that doesn't scare you?"

"Not really. It's not so much the angels I'm worried about. They have orders concerning Mary. Demons are more of a lose bunch."

"What orders?"

"They can't touch her. They came directly from the Boss, so I doubt a lot of them will try to defy them."

"And what about you?"

"I think I can handle them."

"Ok. So how can your angel friend help us with this?"

"Angels can track other angels."

"But she's not…"

"I know, but part of her is. Relax, he has done this before. It's the whole reason why I worked for his kind all these years. How I found her 10 years ago."

On that moment, Dean's cell rang. He couldn't fight the angelic efficiency.

"Hey, Cas, that was fast. What do you have?"

"I can't track her."

"What?"

"I've tried everything I know. Wherever she is, I can't see her."

-------------------

Going back to Wilson wasn't in Mary's immediate plans. Knowing her town's people as well as she did, she knew they were probably still talking about what happened to her father and the best suspect would have to be the person who had to face an attack and a murdered family member in the same day and had disappeared and didn't given any signs of life in weeks. Whatever was happening there she had to resolve it fast and do it without being seen by humans or demons, because that was the first place they would be looking. During all the trip she hadn't answered any of James's questions. She was focus on trying to come up with a plan. All things considered, she had come up with a great one and James couldn't know anything about it or he would ruin the whole thing.

"So this is where you live, huh?"

"What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering what you people do for entertainment."

"Don't ask me, I had plenty of freaks to worry about. Shit."

Mary lowered her head as soon as she saw her school's principal. That was the last person that could lay eyes on her.

"I never thought you would be afraid of middle aged bolding men."

"Right, I don't think they have the best impression of me. Can you see a house that has too much pink in it?"

"Yes."

"Stop there."

James obeyed, he had to admit that house could easily be one of the creepiest things he had ever seen.

"What is this place?"

"Lily's mother is… special. I hope she's not here."

The two went to the entrance. Mary was looking in every direction and praying nobody would spot her. It didn't take long for Lily to go to the door.

"Oh my God, Mary!"

She gave Mary the biggest hug anyone had ever given her, which only contributed to the weirdness of the whole thing. For the first time since they had met, James actually did something right when he separated them and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm James. We talked on the phone."

"Right. Hi."

"I have to say you have a lovely voice, but the whole package is even better."

"Can we just get inside, please?"

Mary just wanted to get that over with and the last thing she wanted to see was a James and Lily romance.

"Lily, can you tell us about this demon you saw?"

"Yeah, it was like the scariest thing I've ever seen. One minute you think she's just an ordinary person and the next she's almost threatening you."

"Right, and how did you find out about the murders?"

"Well, you know Wilson. It's a small town, people talk."

"Yeah, but apparently you knew about these things before anybody else did. That's pretty impressive, even for you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"No? How come you already knew about Jane's death? Nobody else does."

"How do you know? Did you ask them?"

"No, but I did my homework. They found her body 2 hours ago and you've been calling me since yesterday."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"You're right. Which is why I kept looking and you managed to call every newspaper about this."

Lily got up and tried to run, but Mary caught her and punched her to the ground. James just watched the whole thing.

"I need a little help with this."

James held Lily while Mary tied her.

"So, Lily, are you going to start talking or do I have to force you?"

"What do you want?"

"You're too stupid to do something like this. You can't even plan your own birthday."

"You don't know anything about me."

"No, that's where you're wrong. People like you are just too easy to read, too predictable. Who told you to do this?"

"Nobody."

"Nobody? Lily, you don't even know the concept of a trap. I don't know what have you done, but whatever it is, it can't be good."

"I can't tell you."

"What?"

"She's going to kill me if I tell you."

"Who?"

"The demon."

"Please tell me you didn't make a deal with a demon."

"What was I supposed to do? She came to me and she told me that I could have anything I wanted, all I had to do was to tell her where you were. You can't tell me you wouldn't have done the same."

"Lily, were you the first one she went to?"

Lily was in tears, she didn't want to tell her what happened."

"No. She tried to convince other people. People from our year and most of them said no, others just couldn't find you."

Mary couldn't disguise her anger. Lily had done some pretty shady things in her past, but that was beyond everything.

"Do you have any idea who you're messing with?"

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not. The only thing you're sorry about is that you won't get whatever it is that bitch promise would give you. Did you tell her we were coming?"

"Yes."

"Great."

"Do you think she's gonna kill me?"

"Yes, Lily, she probably will. And you know what? You probably deserve it, but I'll do my best to help you because it's not my fault. James."

James followed Mary to the other room.

"What do we do now?"

"We need ammo and devil's traps."

"Are you ok?"

"What do you think?"

Half an hour past and nothing happened. Mary and James were preparing for the worst. After she made sure everything was in its place, she walked towards Lily.

"What are you doing?"

"It's called a devil's trap."

"What? You think I'm a demon?"

"Nothing surprises me anymore."

"Stop it."

"Why would I?"

Lily didn't answer. Instead she lowered her eyes and starting muting in Latin. Mary and James exchanged looks. She was conjuring the demon.

"Lily, stop, you're going to get us all killed."

But she didn't. It wasn't her anymore. When she looked at Mary again, her eyes were black, the demon had found them. It got lose too easily from the tight ropes and knocked James out when he tried to use the holy water. Mary pulled out her knife, but she lost it and was lying on the floor before she could use it.

"Mary Winchester, I've got to tell you, you're a pain in my ass."

"Thanks."

"I think it's starting to get easier to meet the Pope."

"You know, eternity has got to be boring for you people. Can't you just get a hobbie in hell and leave us alone?"

"Nothing is more fun than hunting you."

"Well, then you should start getting some good plans, because if the best you can get is Lily, you've got to be pretty sucky at your job."

"Maybe…" - The demon picked up the knife. – "You even brought me a gift. You didn't have to, thanks. I've been looking for this too."

"I'm glad I could help."

"So, have you been thinking about my proposal?"

"You still want me in your team?"

"You would be a valuable member, yes."

"Like I said, you were going to have to kill me first."

"Now, what good would that make me? I can't just destroy good merchandising, it would be a crime. No, I'll just keep killing everyone you've ever met. When you find yourself alone and feeling guilty for all the people who died because of you, I think you'll reconsider."

"Why won't you kill me?"

"You're the kind of gift that only comes every couple of millenniums. How could I waste that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'll let you find that out on your own. Well, I'm going to give you some more time to think, let's say a week, and if by then you're still undecided, I'll use some more persuasive techniques."

The demon picked up a gun James had dropped.

"What are you doing?"

"You were right, this was a terrible idea."

It pointed the gun to Lily's head and pulled the trigger. Seconds after black smoke escaped the now dead body. When James woke up, Mary yelled told him to get up. She had now very little time to decide on something she was sure she would never do.

* * *

It's been a long time since I post here, so this was a bigger chapter. Tell me what you think :D


	11. Chapter 11

James came back to the room to find Mary staring at a picture. She had found it amongst the papers Bobby had given her but had never paid very attention to it until that day. She had never given too much credit to her nightmares and they stopped being so frequent after what happened in her school but lately they had started to get weirder than usual. Dean had never really appeared in them. She and James had been trying to find the knife the demon had taken from her a few days before or at least something that could have the same effect. Looking for demons with no sort of advantage didn't sound like the best strategy on Earth. The night before showed Mary she knew what the best solution was all along but she couldn't figure out where her certainty came from.

"I swear I don't know what's the deal with demons these days. They used to be easy enough to find. Now it's like they're mocking us."

"So there's nothing here."

"No. I've officially ran out of options."

"Well… what about the Colt?"

James didn't have a clear reaction. Mary knew exactly why.

"The gun? You do realize it was destroyed."

"What if it wasn't?"

"Those are just stories."

"Yeah I know, but it wouldn't hurt to check it, right?"

"Why the sudden interest in some gun? You could have thought of that days ago."

"Because I remembered it now, ok?"

"Fine. Where are we going to look for it?"

"I think I may have an idea."

Mary tried to avoid James's look. She knew he was dying to flood her with questions that not even her had an answer to. Besides she wasn't as interested in the Colt as she was in the person she thought had it.

Dean was starting to loose the little sense he had left. He had swore he would never let Mary out of sight after what had happened 10 years ago and now he was in the exact same situation, only last time she was missing for 3 days, this time he had been looking for 3 weeks. The only thing that was keeping him together was the fact that, even though there weren't any good news, there weren't any bad either. If demons had her he would probably know it, but then again it could be another trick. He had returned to South Dakota after going across the country, it seemed that the only option left was to look for her in the most basic places. Bobby decided to do the same but the two had gone in separate ways. He ran to the car as soon as Bobby called him saying he had found out something. The older man was waiting for him, leaning against the car.

"It's about time."

"I came as fast as I could. Couldn't you talk on the phone?"

"I'm not sure I could. I think I may have found something."

"What?"

"I went to the bar…"

"You went to a bar?"

"What? It was a long day. And we should have started looking there."

"Why?"

"The bartender and some regulars say they saw her there."

"And they remember her?"

"Well, apparently she didn't pay. Roy says he never forgets a deadbeat."

"But how did she get into a bar?"

"How do you think? Do you have any real ID? Anyway, he says she left with a guy."

"A guy? You mean she is out there alone with some guy?"

"So it seems."

Now Dean was really worried. The thought of all the things that could go wrong terrified him. At the same time he started considering turning to the angels again. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he was starting to believe they would never find Mary on their own. His thoughts were interrupted by Bobby's phone ringing.

James had been exceptionally patient that day. He knew there had to be something up with Mary, he just didn't want to come out and say it. He was trying to think of the reasons that would make the two travel all the way to Indiana for a gun that, for all he knew didn't exist anymore. He was dying to know why she was so sure about it. They had spent the entire day talking to locals trying to find a man that Mary could describe pretty well even though there wasn't any picture or even a name. Their efforts had led them to the local bar where Mary was talking to a young man. James wasn't sure where that fit the investigation but he wasn't enjoying how nice she was being to some guy. When she finally went to their table he was ready to drop the patience. He just had to know why they were there.

"You seemed to be enjoying your time with that guy."

Mary was confused.

"Do I have to check with you to talk to people?"

"No, I just never thought you were the kind of person that would treat random strangers well, but that's just my experience talking."

"We met in the worst day of my life."

"Well, things aren't that much better now, are they?"

"Are you jealous?"

That was probably the first time James had seen Mary sincerely laughing. He tried to ignore the whole thing.

"No, of course not. Why would I be?"

"No reason… Anyway, there was a good reason to be nice to that guy."

"Really?"

"Yup. I think I know where the Colt is."

"Wow, just like that? How does that guy know where it is?"

"That guy doesn't know anything. He works at a retirement home and apparently Steve is one of the most known residents."

"Steve?"

"I'm not sure that's his real name but if they think he's nuts he may be the guy we're looking for."

"Or he may be just some nutty old guy."

"Well, a suspicion is the best we can hope for now."

"Ok, how are you planning to talk to a guy in a retirement home?"

"Good question…"

"I think I may know a way."

Mary and James never expected what they saw the next day. When they thought of the place where old people with no real incomes would spend the last years of their lives, they never pictured something of that magnitude. Most working people never even dreamt of living in a place that made some mansions look bad.

"Wasn't this guy a hunter?"

"As far as I know…"

"Are you sure we're in the right place?"

"Again with the doubts."

"I'm sorry but, come on, are you kidding me? Look at this place. I wish I had lived in a time when stealing money was this easy."

"I hope this works."

"Trust me, I've been doing this for years. They always fall for it."

Mary wasn't so sure. She pointed at the heavy security. None of them had ever dreamed someone could live like that.

Passing through security wasn't the hardest part, but there was something far worse waiting for them at the reception. A middle-aged woman was taking care of some paper work and ignored them for a while despite of James's attempts to capture her attention. After a few cofs the woman finally spoke.

"I heard you, what do you want?"

Mary and James exchanged a look before Mary took the lead.

"Hi. Good morning. We're here to see Mr. Turner."

"And why would you wanna do that?"

"Well, we're Mr. Turner's cousin lawyers. He recently passed away and he's the only family we could find."

"You're kidding me, right? What you think this is my first day here? You probably found a new banc account, so you're going to make the old man sign some paper, suddenly you get sickly rich and leave him here to die and me to change his diapers until God decides of put him out of his misery and mine."

None of them had anything good in mind to answer her. Since it was his idea, James tried to emend the situation.

"Ma'am I can assure you we're honest people. We would never, ever do such thing."

The woman finally decided to take a good look at them.

"How long did it take you to get your degree?"

"Same as everybody else, ma'am."

"Really? Because your partner there can't be more than 20."

"Everybody says that. You see, she is interning at our firm. I'm showing her the ropes."

"Get out of my home."

"Yes, ma'am."

Mary couldn't say she was surprised that James's plan didn't work. In the months they had been together there had been very few occasions where he didn't screw up in some way.

"So much for your brilliant ideas…"

"If you have a better idea I'm dying to hear it."

"How the hell am I going to speak to a guy that lives in a luxury prison?"

"Well, I was thinking of something, but I'm going to need a good reason to do this."

"You mean, besides taking one of the only things that we've heard of that can actually kill demons?"

"This was never about the gun, was it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, Mary. You know as well as I do that even if this guy still has it he will never tell you. So why do you want to talk to him so badly."

"It's a long story."

"Yeah, you've been saying that since we've met. We've got nothing but time now and I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why we're here. Oh, and don't skip the part of how you got your hands on those journals."

Mary knew there was no way she was going to escape that. He was right. They had been hunting together for a few months now and all she did was ignore him as much as she could. She owed him that much. Besides he was too soft to go around telling everybody.

"You're not going to believe it."

"After what I've seem, I'm a believer."

"What have you heard about the Winchesters?"

"The same as everybody else."

"Then you've heard they're dead, right?"

Mary didn't have to say anything else. James had a slight suspicion and he had also heard about the rumors.

"You're one of them, aren't you?"

"That's what's been said."

"Wow, that's just… I mean, you're a Winchester?"

"I would appreciate it if you didn't talk to anybody about this."

"Oh, no. Totally. You can trust me. How are you a Winchester?"

"Dean."

"Yeah, he was kind of a bouncer."

"So, what's the plan?"

Mary had to start a little more of the consequences of stupid ideas. She had basically shared her biggest secret in exchange of a plan that consisted on invading the room of some apparently rich old guy who was living in one of the most secured places she had ever seen.

"I can't believe you talked me into this."

"It's for good cause."

"And how are we going to make the man with the invaders understand that?"

"You're a Winchester. This guy was probably friends with your dad and even he wasn't he should kneel and offer you all he owns just because you're a freakin' Winchester."

"I thought we had let that go already."

"We did. It didn't stop being awesome though."

"If we get caught, you are paying for this."

"We won't get in trouble, I've got all figured out."

"I really hope you're right."

The two got in the room through the window. Everything was dark and silent.

"I thought he would be back by now."

"He is."

James pointed to the light coming from the bathroom.

"Ok, we need to think of something to explain why there are two strangers in the room."

James wasn't listening. He was going through his things.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm looking for the Colt."

"Why are you doing that?"

"Isn't that why we're here?"

"Yeah, but we can ask him for it, what do you think he'll do if he sees her holding his gun?"

"Uh, oh."

"What?"

Mary turned back, Steven was behind her and pointing a gun.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Wait, sir we can explain."

Mary didn't even have time for an answer before James jumped out of the window.

"James! Thanks for that!"

"Who are you?"

"Look, this is just a huge misunderstanding. I just want to talk to you."

"You're one of those punks that's been calling me, threatening me."

"What? No, I swear…"

"Nurse!"

"Please don't do that. I think you knew my father, he was Dean Winchester…"

Mary couldn't fight the efficiency of that place. It didn't take more than a few seconds for a woman accompanied by security to enter the room. As soon as they did, the security grabbed Mary. For a second she could have swore the older hunter recognized something in her, but he didn't do anything."

"Mr. Turner, what did I tell you about having guns in here."

Steven didn't seem to care that his last functioning gun had been confiscated. He just stared at Mary until she was out of his sight.

Mary found it odd that she was led into an interrogation room instead of a cell. Sure she had invaded private property but that hardly qualified her for an interrogation.

* * *

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'll try to finish this up as soon as I can.


	12. Chapter 12

Mary had been staring at a random place of that room for a while now. It wasn't like there was a lot left to do, she couldn't go anywhere. There wasn't a lot on her mind except for what was she going to do to James once she found him. It was one thing to think of a crappy plan – that seemed to be the only thing he was good at – another was to bail. The fact that she was about to be interrogated had to be some sort of formality. She doubted breaking into a retirement home was enough to make her spend her entire life behind bars. By the time the door opened she was more than ready to get it over with.

"Finally."

She could see from the man's reaction, or lack of it, that there was probably no room in that place for a sense of humor.

"Do you know why you're still here?"

"Well, I did try to steal something from an old person. That makes me at least an awful person."

The man didn't even bother to look at her or agnknowledge she was saying something. He would just stare at the file he had brought along with him.

"You're from Wilson. That's Louisiana, right?"

"That's right."

"May I ask you what are you doing in Ohio?"

"I heard there was a pot of gold."

"Ms. Jefferson, I don't think you're realizing the seriousness of the situation."

"Oh, no I get it. I mean the handcuffs are a nice touch. I just don't know what's all this for. It's not like I was trying to steal him money or anything. I was just looking for something he took from my family so it's not so much of a crime when you're trying to get your stuff back, is it?"

Once again the man seemed to be completely ignoring her.

"You were going to Harvard in the fall?"

"Right again. That file of yours knows more about me than most of the guys I dated."

"So why did you decide to leave your hometown 3 months before enrolling?"

"I didn't want to be late."

"I would also like to add that you did this in the day your school was attacked and your father died. Now, was that just a terrible coincidence or did it just feel like the right time?"

She knew there had to be something more behind the whole thing.

"No, it just felt like a really crappy day."

"Even so, you left pretty fast considering your father was still rotting at your house."

"I'm sorry, are you saying I killed my father?"

"That seems to be the general theory around here."

"Around here? Since when do people in Ohio care about somebody dying in middle of nowhere in Louisiana?"

"Since a suspect of about a dozen deaths decides to stop by."

"Oh, so you think I also decided to go on a killing spree at my school?"

"We have witnesses."

She was hoping Lily was a name she wouldn't have to ear again.

"Who?"

"That's confidential, but I can tell you one of them isn't breathing which doesn't really help your case."

"Ok, let me ask you just one question now. Why would I do that? Don't you think I have better things to do with my time?"

"Apparently you don't."

Mary couldn't believe that. She had done her best to not harm anything that was human and suddenly she was a serial killer. Things just kept getting better.

"Isn't this the right time to ask for a lawyer?"

"It would be if you had decided to commit a crime at a better time. We called every lawyer close by and none of them seems to be in the mood to come to work. You're just going to have to wait until tomorrow."

"What? Are they at a lawyer convention?"

"If we're done, I guess you can go and get settled."

"Don't I at least get the phone call?"

"Sure, we're not in Guantanamo."

"Could have fooled me."

Mary had been into some deep trouble before, but that was just a whole new level. She stared at a phone for a while. First she spent some time thinking about who she could possibly call to and Bobby seemed to be the only viable answer. Then she had to gather the actual courage to do it. She had only seen him once and ran away a few hours after that, and that had happened almost two months ago so chances were he wasn't going to answer. But there wasn't another choice. She waited for a few seconds before she heard his voice.

"Hello?"

"Bobby? I don't know if…"

"Mary, where are you?"

Mary was too glad he hadn't forgotten her. As much as she had to get used to the idea, he was, in the weirdest possible way her only family now.

Dean's attitude changed completely when he heard that name. All that time looking for Mary and now she was actually in touch with them. For a second he considered taking the phone away from Bobby, but after giving it some thought, it didn't sound much of a good idea.

After some hesitation, Mary answered.

"Ashland County Jail."

Bobby never thought she would get into that much trouble. He tried to remain calm.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, it's just…"

"What?"

"They think I killed some people. I thought I was just going to stay here for a couple days but I they want to transfer me and I don't know what to do so, if you could get here…"

"Don't worry, I'm on my way, just stay calm, alright?"

"Ok. And I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"For running away. You were probably worried sick about me and I didn't even bother to call."

"It's ok, I'm used to that. Just hold on, I'll be there as soon as I can."

The look Bobby gave Dean a look that he rarely used anymore. He seemed actually very worried.

"What happened?"

"She's in jail."

"What? What happened?"

"I don't know, but it's serious."

"How serious?"

"We have to go."

Mary still hadn't hung up the phone when an officer entered and went to talk to the one that had been behind her the entire time. She was then directed to the interrogation room she had been earlier. For a minute she hoped they were wrong and she wasn't even going to have to spend the night on that place, but she stopped believing that as soon as she saw the man that had gotten her there in the first place. He didn't say anything for a while, then he looked at the woman that was standing behind Mary.

"I thought I said I wanted to be alone."

Mary was surprised to see that the woman didn't question him.

"And tell your friends to stay away from here while I talk to her, ok?"

The woman nodded and left the room. Since the man didn't seem to be in much of a chatty mood, Mary decided to start.

"I'm sorry for the breaking in."

"You don't have to apologize; I know what you were looking for."

That man didn't cease to surprise her.

"You do?"

"And I know who you are."

"How?"

"You didn't stop to think for one second before doing something this stupid?"

"Believe me, I did. It was just the only option I had left. I tried to get to you but I couldn't. You still didn't answer my question."

"I used to know your father."

"You know how unspecific that is to me?"

"Winchester."

"Oh, dad number 2…"

"Yeah, I've heard about that. Sorry. Anyway, I fought with him and his brother. I was one of the few hunters who actually believed them."

"Is that why you have the Colt?"

"I kept it afterwards, yes, but I don't have it anymore."

"Why not?"

"I needed to live. We all thought that battle was going to put everyone in its place for good. We never considered those things were going to crawl back to the earth. How do you think I manage to pay for the place I'm living in?"

Mary couldn't believe she was going to spend the rest of her life in jail for something so stupid.

"So you sold one of the few things that can actually kill demons? That's a smart move."

"Yeah, sue me."

"I wish I could…"

"Look, you need to get out of here. I came to drop any charges, but apparently you're a murderer, so there isn't much I can do."

"Don't worry. I'm going to start digging a tunnel as soon as I get to my place. Did you bring a rasp too?"

The man was silent for a moment.

"You know you're just like him, in every way?"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No, just an observation. I made you the minute I saw you."

"What took you so long then?"

"I thought I was never going to have to deal with these things. After that fight we all promised each other to never meet again and suddenly you show up at my door. I didn't know what to do."

"Well, I think you still don't."

"You're right, but don't worry. I'm going to make some calls and see what I can do. You just have to hold on for one night, ok?"

"Fine. Can I ask you just one thing?"

"Sure."

"What happened to him?"

"You mean Dean?"

"Yeah, how did he die?"

Steven seemed to be confused.

"He's not dead."

"What?"

"I've been talking to Bobby ever since the demon omens started. I'm pretty sure he's not dead."

It's not like Mary ever had a positive opinion about the man, but Dean was turning out to be an even worst father than she imagined. She could try to begin to understand why he had decided to simply give her away, but being alive and not give any signs of it was just crossing the line. He probably never thought about how much she needed someone at that point.

If there was a place Mary never thought she was going to see was the inside of a prison, much less reserving a place in one. It was late and much of her colleagues seemed to be already asleep so there wasn't much of a fuss, which she guessed was the best she could hope for. When she was locked down, she thought her mate was asleep too, but she realized she was wrong when she heard a voice behind her. It was like people enjoyed scaring the crap out of her.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Who are you?"

"Apparently I'm your new roommate."

The young woman didn't look much older than her. She jumped from her bed and stared at looked at Mary up and down, almost like she was evaluating her.

"You don't look like prison material."

"That's what I've been trying to tell them."

"What did you do?"

"I was in a lot of wrong places at the worst possible time."

The girl just started laughing.

"Yeah, me too. Circumstances suck."

"Right…"

Mary tried to stay as quiet as she could. She was still hoping that was the only night she was going to have to spend in that place so the best she could do was to ignore there was anybody else there.

--

Steven still couldn't believe how his old life just kept coming back to haunt him. It didn't take an expert to see that something felt different in his room as he came back to his room. For starters, it was cold. Colder than usual. And then there was some sort of movement. He couldn't really see it, but he could swear it was there. He looked at every corner of his room and didn't see anything. When he turned to his original place, he saw the reason for all the fuss. A young man was standing there, facing him.

"What do you want?"

There wasn't much light, but as the boy approached him, he could see his face clearer and he recognized him.

"You were here earlier."

James didn't seem to be bothered about being recognized.

" I was hoping I could be smoother."

"Why are you here?"

"You see Steve, here's the thing, I know you have something that I've searching for a while now."

"No, not anymore."

"No, I'm pretty sure you do. Or are you gonna tell me you don't keep the demon killing gun in your closet in a fake bottom."

Steven rushed to the place only to find it empty. He looked at James, who was now holding the Colt.

"Now, I don't know why you would lie about something like that, but I'm willing to bet there's some sort of promise or deal behind it and I bet that if I dug a little more, I would find out that there's a Winchester involved somehow."

"You're wrong."

"I doubt it. So, are you going to tell me where Dean is or am I going to have to get it our of you."

"Who are you?"

"That's not very relevant, is it?"

"I don't know where he is."

"That's too bad."

Steven didn't have time to react. James just pulled the Colt's trigger and he dropped dead on the floor.

--

Mary had been sitting on the floor right next to her bed for about an hour now. She had been considering if it was a good idea to actually lay in it. She came close a couple of times, but all she could think about were the kind of people that had laid there. She finally decided to get up and look outside. All of the sudden the weather had changed drastically and there was a nasty storm forming.

"You know I was always afraid of thunder?"

Mary looked at her cell mate, she seemed to be having trouble falling asleep too.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I never thought twice about sending my dad packing, but I've always been terrified of this."

"There are worse things."

"I doubt it."

"If you had my life this would be just a picnic."

She couldn't say she didn't find that storm somewhat odd. It was like someone was controlling it. It looked perfect and it was like it was after something, like it was approaching. There wasn't much light in that place, but the little there was started to flicker.

"What's happening?"

"It's nothing. The thunder is probably messing with the electricity."

"God, I hate this."

Mary really wanted to believe it was just a storm, but all of the sudden the temperature dropped. Something was definitely happen.

"Hey, I didn't get your name."

"Ashley."

"Ok, Ashley, is there any chance there's salt or iron in this place?"

"Uh, no I don't think so. Why?"

"No reason."

She looked outside again. It was defiantly not a regular storm. Everything was dark, she couldn't even see the street lights and then a dark cloud started to gather and it didn't take long for it to advance towards the prison.

"Damn it. Guard!"

"What are you doing?"

"Do me a favor: can you just hide behind something. I don't know if it's going to work but it's better than nothing."

"Why? What's happening?"

"Just do it, ok?"

Ashley did what she was saying. She wasn't sure why, but she seemed serious.

"Anybody?"

Nobody answered. All of a sudden there was a loud noise. The dim cloud had entered the room and everything went dark.

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews and for everybody that has stick around. This is almost done. There's probably just a couple more chapters.


	13. Chapter 13

They had been driving all night, but Dean and Bobby didn't get to Ohio until the early hours of the next morning, and considering what they found it probably would have been better if they had never gone there. Outside everything was chaotic, there were firemen trying to put out some fires in the building and people running everywhere. Dean's immediate reaction was to stop the car and step out immediately, he wasn't really thinking about the consequences of being discovered, he just wanted to make sure nothing had happened to Mary. He ran to the first person who looked official enough.

"What happened here?"

The woman hesitated before answering, on one hand she wasn't sure how much she could share with outside people, on the other they were still trying to figure out what happened in the first place. Dean wasn't exactly willing to be patient.

"Please, I just need to know if anyone's injured, I have a daughter in there."

"Honestly, we're not sure about what happened. It could have been just an accidental fire, there was a pretty massive lightening last night, but we don't know. All I know is that some people died, I'm not sure how many, but if you go to the back there are some people who have the list of all the prisoners."

"Ok, thanks."

Bobby followed Dean. Whatever was happening couldn't be good and he was sure he wasn't sure Dean was ready to listen to some unpleasant news alone. In that place there was a somewhat more organized chaos. It was like people already knew there wasn't much hope for whoever they were looking for. Dean didn't know if he wanted to find out what happened. When he finally was face-to-face with some cop holding a paper, he had some trouble getting the words out.

"I'm looking for a Mary Jefferson."

It was painful to see that for that woman this was just a procedure. It wasn't like something like that worried her much beyond her job security.

"She wasn't found."

"Excuse me?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. She was in the place where the fire started so we still weren't able to go there, but I assure you we will find the body."

Bobby was surprised at how calmly Dean took the news. He was expecting a much more violent reaction but he just thanked her and the two left and walked to the car.

"Are you alright?"

"She's not dead."

"What makes you say that?"

"There was a storm last night and I'm sure that if we searched a little we would find a whole lot more demon omens."

"So you think they took her?"

"I'm sure they did and I think I know where."

---

The next thing Mary heard was a loud noise, like somebody had dropped something heavy on the floor. She opened her eyes and realized she wasn't in her cell anymore, it was a dark place but there were some rays coming in through some tiny windows. She sat down and saw a very smiley James staring at her.

"James?"

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Where are we?"

"I'm sorry, I don't think I'm aloud to share that."

She was still dizzy, but it didn't take a lot of thinking to figure out what was happening. She had to admit she had never felt so stupid in her life.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"Hardly."

"You're a demon, aren't you? You've been working for them."

"See, that's one of your problems, you're too quick at judging people."

"Really? So I'm just dreaming this whole thing. Is that it?"

"I'm not a demon. Not your idea of one anyway."

"What are you?"

"Let's just say I was in a high position and got grossly dispromoted."

"Ok, so you have me, what are you waiting for?"

"I'm not going to kill you."

"If this is about that stupid deal you people have been trying to impinge me, you might as well go ahead and do it."

James laughed to himself.

"First, I told you I don't have anything to do with those people and second, I am offended you would think I'm that stupid. I mean, come on everybody is trying to get a piece of you these days and they came closer than anybody else and all they can think of is try to make a deal? Haven't they learned their lesson already? It's useless to make deals with Winchesters you guys just keep finding new ways of weaseling out of them."

"So, what's the point?"

"You're out trade coin."

"Excuse me?"

"Me and my colleagues have taken a more than unpleasant and unfair permanent residence in hell and we can't say we're pleased with our situation, so we've been thinking about what would be the best way to get out of it."

"Well, you're out now, so what's the point?"

"We want a little justice and our old positions back of course."

"What old positions?"

"In Heaven."

"Heaven?"

"You know it's not as pleasant as you people imagine it, but it sure beats getting your limbs ripped off every day."

"How did you get there in the first place?"

"What makes you think I was anywhere else before?"

"You're an angel?"

"I was before I was thrown out of the party."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but I think you're knocking at the wrong door. I have no idea of how to get to Heaven."

"I know you don't. The thing is, you're pretty much all we have left."

"What could I possibly do for you?"

"Nothing you haven't already done. We just needed you to be born."

"Why?"

"You are really on the dark about this stuff, aren't you? You are the perfect combination of all the things my former dad loves. Half human, half angel."

"How can I…"

James interrupted her.

"Mommy was an angel."

"No, that's impossible."

James was starting to lose his patience. He was speaking clearly enough, what was not to get. She probably knew better than anybody that denial wouldn't get her anywhere especially when it came to dealing with things like him.

"Yeah, it's about as impossible as those nightmares you've been having, all those voices in your head, should I continue?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Why do you think I didn't snag you on the second I met you? Why do you think we were together for this long? I had to make sure we had found the right person. I couldn't just take the first 18 year-old that fit the bill and present her to my boss, do you know what message that would send? This was my job and between you and me, I think I excelled at it."

Mary didn't seem to have anything else to say. She was still processing the whole thing, there wasn't much she could let out while she was doing it.

"So, what now?"

"First, we wait. I'm planning on a little family reunion and we're still a few members short. Then we just need you for a little bargain with the man upstairs. He has a weak spot for Jesus Christ Superstars. Make yourself at home.

Mary watched him disappear before her eyes. That seemed to be the only way out of that place. It looked like it could be a basement or something very close to it, she wasn't really worried about it. All she cared about was getting the hell out of there.

--

Dean and Bobby stood outside a remote house that was falling apart. The two men seemed to be hesitant about walking more than two inches away from the car, they were just watching.

"So, you think Mary is in there?"

"I'm positive."

"What makes you so sure?"

"This is where they popped out."

"So you know this is a trap."

"I'm aware. That's why I need you to stay here."

"Are you insane? You're not going to enter a house with God knows how many demons alone."

"Look, you've done enough, ok? And I thank you for it, but I can't let you get in there. I know you want to help, but you can't and I need somebody backing me up."

Bobby wasn't crazy about this plan, but Dean was right. If something happened to him in there he wasn't going to be able to help, so the best he could do was to get help outside of that place.

"Just be careful, alright?"

"If I'm not back in a while, call Cass, he can help."

"You better bring her back, ok?"

"I will, don't worry."

Bobby watched as Dean approached the door slowly. Even if that was a trap, he wasn't going to give the demons the satisfaction of getting him easily. Nobody appeared in the short way to the back door. In a normal situation that would be a good thing but in that case it was only contributing for the suspicion. Even so, that didn't surprise Dean. It was just what demons did. The real surprise came when he opened the door. Outside the house looked abandoned and was falling apart, but inside it looked like a well treated mansion, there weren't any signs of degradation. He cautiously advanced towards what looked like the living room. Everything was starting to get too quiet, until he heard steps behind him. He was able to knock the first thing that attacked him out, but there were too many and they grabbed him. He wasn't going anywhere. James came in the room with a very satisfied smile.

"Well, just look at what the cat dragged in."

"What the hell are you smiling at?"

"It's just been a really good day for me. Now, let me take a wild guess, you came here looking for something."

Dean would have hated that guy even if he hadn't opened his mouth, but his little speech just proved that it didn't take more than a few words to earn the right of getting a bullet through his skull, especially if the little he talked was to confirm he had gotten to Mary.

"Where is she?"

"She's safe, don't worry. I just came back from checking on her and you'll be able to do that for yourself soon enough."

"You are really getting on my nerves."

"Come on, Dean. It's not like we are going to kill any of you. Relax, we're on the same team here."

He had been thinking about it since he had entered, but now he was almost sure about it.

"You're not demons, are you?"

"Very insightful. No, not exactly."

"But, let me guess, you've got your ass sent to hell."

"You're not going to tell me that was fair, are you?"

"Far from me to agree with angels, but if you were there, you probably deserved it."

James went forward to hit Dean, but he stopped himself before doing it. He wasn't going to give him the pleasure of being right.

"You're not going to ruin this for me, do you understand me?" – he turned to the men holding Dean – "You can let him go, I'll handle him."

Mary had to admit that she had had brighter ideas than just hit a wall with a piece of wood, that was never going to work, but she needed to keep her mind busy and that was all she had to do in that place. Suddenly she felt some air coming in. That could only mean somebody had entered the room and she was sure it was James, so she didn't even bother to look. James just couldn't help but laugh at her efforts.

"How the escape going?"

"Fine, James. You won't see my face again tomorrow."

"If you'd like to believe that… Anyway, I brought you something."

"Do I care?"

"I think you two have a lot to talk about."

Mary turned back. She had only seen Dean in a few pictures he had in his journal, but she recognized him immediately, the same could be said for Dean. He hadn't seen her in 10 years, but she still looked the same to him. The two just stared at each other they were defiantly not ready to talk yet.

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Thanks again for the reviews and for sticking around! It's almost done!


	14. Chapter 14

So, a long time latter, here's an update. I had completely forgotten about this but now that I have a little free time until school starts again, I'm going to try to finish it. It's almost done. I hope you enjoy it!

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It didn't take long for each to claim their corner of the room. Mary never looked at Dean's face, deciding to concentrate on her less than elaborate plan of escape. Dean, on the other hand, couldn't take his eyes of her, as creepy as he might look. She was beautiful the last time he had seen her, but now she was stunning. He started to think about all the years he had spent thinking about her being safe from anything supernatural and how it had never occurred to him that there were some far greater threats than that. Guys, for once. He thought about the most mundane things like if she ever had a boyfriend or if she had a lot of friends. He knew she was smart. Bobby had told him she was going to the best university in the world, so she definitely wasn't making the mistakes he made. Why wasn't she looking at him? Maybe because he was an idiot. After a while Dean had lost all his patience. He had too many questions.

"Do you need any help with that?"

Mary didn't stop what she was doing and didn't even look at him. "Not really."

So, she really wasn't willing to talk. That wasn't going to stop Dean.

"Are you ok?"

That made Mary stop. She took her time to turn around and face Dean.

"Let's see. I was supposed to be in Massachusetts in less than a week, but I'm going to die today instead. What does it look like?"

Dean was speechless for a moment. He never would have guessed that someone like Ronald was going to be able to make his daughter have a mouth as big as his.

"I'm sorry."

Mary sighed, "Please, don't do this."

Now Dean was beyond confused, "Do what?"

"The whole apologetic act. People only mean it about half the time and besides you don't really have anything to apologize for, do you?"

By this point Mary was already sitting, Dean decided to do the same.

"I left you."

"And do you seriously believe that I would be better off living with you? Most people think you're dead. That just says a little of what you've been up to all these years."

"But you've been hunting haven't you?"

"Yeah, but I have a life that has anything to do with it. Well, had anyway."

"Ok. So… we're good?"

Mary chuckled, "Not even a little, but we're not sticking around for much longer anyway, so, we might was well go out without a fight. I would really hate to die annoyed."

"Nobody is dying today."

"Well, you're the rescue mission, right? That didn't exactly work out, right?"

That was the moment Dean realized she was just going to some sort of denial and keeping all the anger in. He didn't want to imagine the proportions her hate towards him would take if they managed to get out of there.

"Bobby is outside and Cass will be here any minute."

"Yeah, that's really great; now tell me how will an old guy an just one angel be able to help us. No offense to Bobby, he was really great to me, but he couldn't break a nail from James much less take down whatever those things are. And Cass is just…"

"Trust me he will take care of them."

"If you think so…"

The two stood silent for a moment until Mary suddenly remembered the main reason of why she was there. The thought of dying was distracting.

"By the way, how did you manage to hook up with an angel?"

"Well, I had left Hell a few months earlier, I hadn't had anything for months and we thought it was our last night on Earth."

Mary nodded, "Oh. And it didn't occur to you that something like this could come out of the deal?"

"Would you?"

"Fair point."

Dean couldn't help but feel weird about how relaxed Mary was. Was she more messed up than he anticipated?

"Are you always this calm?"

Mary started laughing, "No. In a normal circumstance I would probably have a gun up your ass for having messed up my life since the moment you conceived me, but, I don't know if it's the fact I'm not going to be alive tomorrow or that the nightmare my Summer has been be finally ending… I just feel calm. Maybe the yoga is helping too.

"You do yoga?"

"I was forced to do it. I needed to add some sort of sport to my resume for Harvard and I don't think they would accept killing monsters. I hated it."

"Yeah, Bobby told me you were going. That can't be easy."

"No, it's not."

"What are you going to study?"

"Premed. I just figured it was a healthier way of helping people. Plus Ronald taught me a few basics so… I can't even imagine myself doing anything else." Mary couldn't disguise her disappointment while she said it. Going to college had been a dream her and Ronald had been working on for years and it had been hard for her to forget it.

Hearing her saying that, more than making Dean proud made him more eager to find a way out of there. He couldn't let some bratty angels, or demons or whatever they were now ruin Mary's future. Suddenly he got up and started yelling at the ceiling.

"Cas!"

Mary just stared at him like he had lost his mind.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling Cass."

"Does that ever work?"

"Sometimes."

"Awesome."

However, Dean didn't have any more time to try. Just a few seconds later James appeared. Dean looked at him with panic in his eyes. He knew he was there to take Mary. She, on the other hand wasn't scared at all. She saw it more as an inevitably. She got up and started walking towards him, Dean stopped her. James couldn't help but laugh.

"Something funny?", Dean said with disgust.

"I'm sorry, I'm just moved. So, are you two done here?"

"I'm only going to tell you this once, if you just lay one of your filthy fingers on her I'll personally take you back to hell."

"Oh, Dean… I thought she told you about our Summer together. I came this close to nail her."

That set Dean up he ran towards him with his fist up ready to take all his frustration out on him, but when he was about to he vanished. Dean only had time to look back and seeing him grabbing Mary and both disappearing.

Outside Bobby was starting to lose his mind. He had been screaming for Castiel for a while, but he didn't show. He thought about joining Dean inside, but he quickly realized that was a bad plan. It wouldn't do anybody good if he got killed in there. The angel showed up about half on hour after the hunter started calling him.

"Are going deaf?"

Castiel didn't care for what Bobby had to say, he didn't even look at him, he just stared at the old house.

"Dean called me."

"Is he ok?"

"No. You need to go."

"What the hell are you talking about? I ain't going to leave him there. I'm going with you.

"There's too many of them, you would only slow us down. You need to go back home. We'll need you there when we get back."

"When are you planning to do that?"

"I can't be there more than an hour or they will all charge."

"And how the hell am

The angel looked I suppose to get to South Dakota in an hour?"

Castiel looked at Bobby for the first time since he arrived. He gave Bobby an offended look. How could the hunter think he wasn't capable of doing that? Castiel pressed his fingers in Bobby's forehead and he was at home before he even realized it.

James took Mary to a far more luxurious room than the one she had just been in. James dropped her in the floor violently and she felt on her knees.

"And they say chivalry is dead."

James grinned before walking out of the room, closing the doors behind him. Before he could do it, Mary got a glimpse outside. She knew James wasn't alone, but she wasn't expecting a convention. Mary got up whispering 'bastard' while doing it. That place looked so neat it made her sick. All the furniture and decoration looked like the group of angel runaways had made a trip in time and had swiped everything from the Palace of Versalles. Mary couldn't resist taking one of the bibelots that were staring at her as if they were mocking her with the intention of smashing it, but she didn't have time to. A woman walked in as she was in the middle of lifting the thing. The woman looked at Mary's hand and at the empty place where it used to be and said coldly:

"If you had a slight idea of all the trouble I had to go through to get all this you would think twice before smashing that."

Without saying another word, the woman sat on the couch. Mary just stared at her. She never wanted to break anything more than in that moment, but something told her not to, so she just put the thing on the floor. The woman accompanied her every move.

"Aren't you going to sit down?"

There was something about that woman that awakened a level of respect Mary never even knew she had. She didn't think she was intimidating or anything similar, it was just a gut feeling that told her she shouldn't try any form of her attitude towards her. So she sat on the other end of the couch.

"Mary, it's a pleasure to finally see you in person. We were all starting to lose hope."

Mary just grinned. The woman gave her a cold stare and continued.

"Do you know who I am?"

"I'm guessing you're these people's boss."

"In a way, yes. I didn't force people to join me and their end game wasn't even my idea, but I'm the one with the leverage."

"What are you talking about?"

The woman moved closer to Mary, she couldn't say she didn't feel a little intimidated with that decision.

"What did James tell you about you and your parents?"

Mary hesitated. The whole thing sounded so messed up in her head that she was almost scared to say it out loud.

"Well?"

"He said my mother was an angel."

"Among other things, I imagine, but that's the vital part. You're what God loves to call Nephlim. I personally think it's a little offensive. Do you know anything about them?"

"Just the basics." That came out more as a whisper than Mary intended. She was screaming inside, but she didn't even dare to raise her voice and she still wasn't quite sure why.

"There isn't much you need to know, really. Just that God hates you and in such a way that he flooded this entire planet just to get rid of things like you. And then he became very strict about angel and human interaction, so you can imagine how thrilled he got when he found out that an angel was carrying a Human's child."

Mary managed to ask her first question.

"Then how am I still alive?"

"That's a good question. You see, you are probably the most powerful thing in the whole universe, you just never realized it because you've never really paid any attention to the details. You have to find God so He can find you. It's the whole reason why Ronald turned you into a pretty little atheist."

"What happens if He finds me?"

The woman started playing with Mary's hair.

"It won't be pretty for you. I can tell you that. I can also tell you that he's been dying to meet you ever since you were born."

Mary was starting to get suspicious. That woman might have been an angel at some point, but she must have done something really terrible to be demoted to Hell. And if she had been there in the last years, how did she know so much about those things? About God's personal plans?

"You seem to know a lot about Him."

"He was my father for a very long time. I know how His mind works."

"Is that your leverage?"

"No," the woman suddenly stopped playing with Mary's hair and wrapped her arms around her. She just wanted to scream, but she kept as quiet as she could., "It's you. I'm your mother."

In that moment, Mary just froze. That was her mother? Ever since she could remember she had made a mental picture of what she would look like. An angel turned demon who had been harassing her all Summer and killing all her friends and family wasn't exactly what she had in mind. But she was her mother. It was like a hurricane of emotions inside of her. On one hand she was exited to finally be face to face with her, but on the other she didn't seem very trustworthy. The second seemed to have a slight advantage.

"Why are you only meeting me now?"

"I had to wait for the right time."

"The right time for what?"

Anna didn't say anything, she just gave Mary another long hug. Mary was so out of it, she didn't even noticed Anna had a knife and was in the right position to carve it into Mary's back when she heard some noise outside. She let go of Mary and started walking towards the door. Mary watched her. She had started crying. She never did that. Anna didn't have time to reach the door, though. Castiel and Dean rushed through it, both of them had knives on their hands. Anna saw that all the demons who were watching the room were dead. Dean was the first to talk.

"Hey, Anna. Long time, no see."

"You know there are a lot more from where they came from…"

"Yeah, I'm aware. Cass, now!"

The angel appeared in front of Mary and zapped her out of that place. Anna started screaming.

"No!"

Castiel grinned at her.

"Sorry, sister."

Anna was ready to attack him when him and Dean disappeared making her stab air.

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Thanks to everyone that stuck around! :D


	15. Chapter 15

The next thing she knew, Mary was hitting a wall hard. Like she had been pushed across who knows how many miles. She stood there a few seconds, trying to gather her strength. It wasn't until an old man in a trucker hat started asking her continuously if she was alright that she realized Castiel had sent her to Bobby's house. She had only been there once and she wasn't exactly a smooth guest, but it wasn't like Bobby was concerned with good manners anyway, so she was certain there wasn't going to be any animosity between the two of them because of that. Bobby helped Mary up and was convincing her to sit back down again when Dean and Castiel landed in the old hunter's living room, and in a much smoother way. As soon as he saw Mary, Dean ran to her, doing the same drill as Bobby, something that really got in her nerves.

"I'm fine. Just tell your angel buddy to be more careful the next time he tries to kill me."

"I wasn't trying to…"

Dean stopped Castiel before he could continue. He had been on Earth for a few years now, but God knew how confusing most human things remained to him. Bobby could tell they were all exhausted and after all the initial chaos, he was the first to pave the way to the big questions.

"So, did you get what was after Mary?"

Dean looked at him. It took him a second to answer.

"No. It's a little more complex than we thought."

"What do you mean?"

"It's Anna."

Bobby was in a mist of shock and confusion.

"Anna? I thought she was dead."

"Technically, she still is. Apparently Cass's dad thought a little time in hell would do her some good, but turns out it only made her crazier." – Dean looked at Mary before continuing and lowered his tone, as if he didn't want her to hear – "She wanted to kill Mary."

"Why would she want that?"

Everybody turned to Mary. Bobby and Dean had no idea of what to tell Mary. They didn't know. Castiel, however, had a pretty good idea.

"It's a way of showing God she's still loyal."

Bobby and Dean turned their attention to the angel.

"How would killing her own daughter help her do that?" – asked Dean.

To Castiel, the answer seemed pretty obvious.

"Didn't you read the Bible? Sacrificing your own child is a sure path to God's glory. Plus, Mary is an abomination. She's the greatest sin either Men or Angels can commit, so if Anna showed Him that she could do the right thing and rid the world of it, God would most certainly forgive her."

"You people are really messed up there, huh?" – Dean tried to make light of the situation as usual, but the fact was he was beyond scared. He knew what being in Hell was like and what it did to people. He could only imagine how much crazier Anna was after spending a few decades in that place.

"So, what do we do?" – Asked Bobby – "Do we hide her?"

Castiel looked at him, like that was the stupidest thing he had ever heard.

"That hasn't worked before, what makes you think it will now?"

"What do you suggest, then?"

Castiel didn't answer, but both hunters knew that, unless Mary died, there wasn't any escape. They all stayed quiet for a few moments, even Mary, which from the little experience they all had couldn't mean anything good. The truth was she hadn't been paying any attention to the conversation. Ever since Castiel had pushed her she had started to hear voices. At first she thought maybe Bobby had invited someone over, but they started to appear out of nowhere and were becoming increasingly louder. It was like a thousand people were shouting things at her which gave her the biggest headache she ever had in her life. Dean saw her holding her head and caught her just before she fell off her chair.

All of a sudden, Mary wasn't in Bobby's living room anymore. She was back at her elementary school. She didn't remember much from her time there, just that she and Ronald left from one day to the other for no apparent reason. She had some pretty weird dreams in the last couple of months, but none of them had taken her there. However, it didn't take her long to figure out how she ended up there. Anna was sitting on a bench, as if she was waiting for her after school. For some reason, Mary didn't feel scared or nervous. She sat next to her as if nothing happened.

"Do you remember any of this?"

"Not much."

"It was a long time ago. You were happy here."

"I know, but we left."

"Did Ronald ever tell you why?"

Mary was falling for the same thing she had fallen earlier. There was something about Anna's tone that was comforting.

"No, but I think it had something to do with something being after me or him. He started teaching me how to hunt as soon as we got to Wilson."

"Are you sure you don't remember why?"

Mary didn't answer. She looked in the same direction Anna was looking and suddenly everything felt familiar. A few glimpses were coming back to her. Everything she had been dreaming started to come together. Even Anna. She had seen her before, ten years before.

"You took me."

Anna nodded. "I didn't have a choice."

"Why? What do you want with me?"

"God sent me to Hell. I had to spend the last 18 years in the same place as all the damned human souls go to. I was tortured with them like what I did was as unforgiving as their sins. What would you do if your father did this to you?"

"Was it because of me?"

The answer was obvious for Anna. Of course it was. Sure, she had disobeyed, but she had been punished for that. She had lived on Earth as a human, but creating a nephilim, that was the biggest sin an angel could commit, but Mary couldn't know that.

"It was God's will, but you can help being forgiven."

"How?"

"I need you to tell me where you are."

Mary wasn't just going to give it away. She tried to kill her and it was hard to believe it only took her an hour to change her mind.

"Dean doesn't have the greatest opinion of you."

Now Anna was starting to lose it. There was always something getting in her way.

"Just tell me where you are."

"No."

"You're just like your daddy. Always picking the hard way, but never escaping your destiny. I will find you, but you know what? Even if I don't, I'm not alone in this. When I stop looking, somebody will step up and do the job. And this will happen all your life. You'll never be free and you will never be normal. Enjoy your time with your dad, you won't have much, trust me."

As soon as she stopped talking, Mary opened her eyes. She was laying in a bed, in the same room where she spent her only night in that house. Her head was aching like never before, but she got up and walked to the stairs, where she could hear Dean and Bobby's voices. Something made her stop. Maybe the fact she had a feeling they weren't telling her everything.

Dean was pacing around the room. Castiel was out, trying to get some information and Bobby, as always, was buried in some old book trying to get some answers.

"Would you sit down for a minute? She's gonna be fine."

"I know. That's not what's bothering me."

"Then what is it?"

"This is how it started with Anna. The headaches and the voices. Then she was trying to kill Sam in a year. That's just a little scary."

"It's not the same."

Dean finally stopped and sat down.

"That's what's bothering me. Anna angeling up was bad, sure, but do we even have any idea of what might happen to Mary if God finds her?"

"What makes you think he hasn't? Maybe it's not as bad as you think."

"I worked for Him for 10 years, trust me, we would know if He found her. Why did Ronald make that stupid deal?"

"Dean…"

"I'm serious. He didn't think it was enough to screw up once? After everything we told him he had to know what he was messing with. And now we have to clean the mess."

Mary decided to step in, at first with every intention of defending Ronald, but as soon as she was face to face with those two, she didn't know what to say. After all, all Dean said was true. If he hadn't made that deal there was a number of things that wouldn't have changed.

When Dean saw her, he ran to her.

"Mary, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I just… I need to get some air."

Dean let her go but joined her soon after. She was sitting in the porch and noticed he had followed her.

"He wasn't a bad father, you know?"

Dean sat right next to her.

"So you heard that?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'm not going to give you some sobby speech. I've got way bigger problems now. Mommy dropped by."

"What did she want?"

"She wanted to know where I was. I didn't tell her, but I'm guessing that's not going to do much to stop her."

"Probably not."

Dean looked at the cars Bobby had in his back yard. He seemed to see a shadow moving. He got up to take a closer look.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, I just thought I saw…"

The shadow moved again. There was definitely somebody there. Dean called Bobby and picked up his gun. The two ran up and chased what was clearly a man. It wasn't hard to corner him.

"What do you want?"

"Oh, come on Dean, put that down."

"Who are you?"

"Don't you remember me? I chased you down for some two years, then you killed me."

"Zachariah?"


End file.
